Infinite Life is a play by Annie Baker which premiered in 2023.
Plot
editInfinite Life was slated to premiere in 2021 but opened in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company, in a production prepared in collaboration with the National Theatre of London, which is where the show continued its run after leaving the Linda Gross theater in New York. The play is a bout five women – four of them are in their 60s, one is 47 – staying at a health retreat in northern California. The play shows their interacation during various treatments and wellness programs. There is one minor role for a man. As The Guardian's reviewer summarized, "by wrapping up their discomfort in language and submitting to treatment meted out by the overseeing doctor [...], the women can liberate themselves by starving and articulating away their pain."[1] Writing for The New York Times, Darryn King stated that it "is a play about the experience of pain — our own and each other’s. “Infinite Life” also goes further than Baker's other plays in its exploration of stillness."[2]
Reviews
editThe critic for The Los Angeles Times wrote that " the accuracy of behavioral observation and the quality of empathy."[3] Lauren Mechling ofThe Guardian called the play "often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious."[1]
References
edit- ^ a b Mechling, Lauren (2023-09-13). "Infinite Life review – Annie Baker's latest production is timely but uneven". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
- ^ King, Darryn (2023-08-30). "In Annie Baker's Plays, Pay Attention to the Pauses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
- ^ McNulty, Charles (2023-10-04). "Commentary: Annie Baker chases nexus of pain and desire in hypnotic observational odyssey, 'Infinite Life'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-08-18.