"The Whirligig," a new off-Broadway play presented by The New Group, is an acting showcase, partly because it's written by an actor. NY1's Roma Torre filed the following review.
"The Whirligig" is a dramedy written by Hamish Linklater, a terrific actor who's carving out a career as a playwright. This is very much an actor's play - by an actor, for actors - which means moment to moment it features very strong scenes with potent passages of dialogue. But structurally it's flawed, and its message somewhat muddled. Fortunately, the performances are so strong, you can almost overlook the contrivances.
By definition, a whirligig is something that whirls or rotates; and in this production it is both metaphorical and literal with a revolving stage. At play's start we see a young woman in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV. Her parents are at her side and there's clearly a distance between them. We soon learn that the woman, a 23-year-old named Julie, is dying from an illness complicated by drug abuse. With each turn of the stage, subsequent scenes moving forward and back in time, provide clues to how and why she ended up this way.
It's a tragic tale which Linklater and director Scott Elliott pepper with enough humor to keep us entertained. But it also feels like something of a copout as we discover that each of the characters - family, friends, drug dealers - all played a part in Julie's addiction and yet there's no catharsis with little sense of culpability. In fact, it's almost farcical in the end as all the pieces come together in rather jaunty contrived fashion at Julie's deathbed.
Separately, though, the scenes are impressive, featuring some truly fine performances. Norbert Leo Butz digs into every cranny and crevice to get to the heart of Julie's damaged soul of a dad. Jonny Orsini continues to stretch his versatile chops as a novice drug dealer. And Zosia Mamet, best known from the series "Girls," along with Grace Van Patten as Julie, are entirely believable as BFFs recklessly coasting through life.
The topic is timely amid the opioid crisis in America. And Linklater shapes his characters with tender loving care. But in attempting to lighten this very sad story with levity, Linklater allowed his “Whirligig" to spin out of control.