| Atmospherics. GREY HOUSE is yet another play about trauma, basically, dressed up as a “psychological thriller.” It privileges effects over narrative coherence; it’s moody but blurry, too. The production works hard to distract from the maundering story. It turns a lot of corners but it doesn’t really get anywhere. And though it means to say something presumably serious about the consequences of men’s historical abuse of women and girls, it’s imprecise on this. These characters are avenged, but they’re still haunted, still, effectively, damsels in some variety of distress. It’s their suffering at the hands of men that gives them whatever agency they have here. Generally speaking--past its surface sheen, GREY HOUSE is a glut of generalities--this seems a uniquely male fear. And fantasy. Your mileage may vary, but GREY HOUSE doesn't go this far. |
