This American Wife
BUZZFEED'S BEST PLAYS AND MUSICALS OF 2018!
Put on as part of New York Theatre Workshop’s Next Door series, Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley’s This American Wife was a show I feel like I conjured into existence through sheer force of will. But that would be discounting the genius of Breslin and Foley, who may have even more of a pathological attachment to Real Housewives (and to theater) than I do. This American Wife wasn’t just an excuse for its creators and stars to recite their favorite lines from RHOBH and RHONY — although, yes, it was that — but also a transfixing, thought-provoking exploration of the relationship between gay male identity and the conspicuous consumption of Bravo’s reality programming. It was provocative, hilarious, and (for better or worse) the most I have ever felt seen onstage. If you saw it and didn’t get it, we’re probably not a match.
– Louis Peitzman, Buzzfeed News
With a nod to Brecht, they also wrote This American Wife with the assistance of two dramaturgs, Catherine María Rodríguez and Ariel Sibert. There is no billed director. The duo resolutely demonstrates a paucity of talent in both fields as they assuredly carry on with the supreme confidence of indulged youth.
Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley’s shtick might have made for some amusing YouTube videos but as a full-length stage piece This American Wife is so encrusted with smarmy pretentiousness as to render it as masturbatory tedium.
– A Man on the Internet
This American Wife is both loving satire of the pleasures and madnesses of the franchise, and piercing examination as to why this madness is so compelling; what it offers to fans and what it says about them.
Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley’s brilliant multimedia duologue informally explores their infectious obsession with artificial Real Housewives theatrics, bravely exposing them as gay guys escaping their own realities.
As Breslin and Foley start to divulge their own dark secrets, the cameras frame only their lips. Ironically, they become increasingly vulnerable and three-dimensional on stage, the direct opposite of the Housewives, who open themselves up only to gain an upper hand. It's a fascinating juxtaposition of realities
A Doll’s House, Part 3
Just as Nora has evolved in each of Ibsen’s subsequent iterations, so — Michael + Patrick might argue — should theater. If A Doll’s House paved the way for naturalism and A Doll’s House, Part 2 exemplified contemporary realism with a light theatrical touch, this sequel-to-the-sequel pushes theater as a medium ever-daringly forward once more: A Doll’s House, Part 3 is experimental, bonkers, and delightful.
[A Doll’s House, Part 3] is a raucous, unholy communion of Ibsen-referencing, inside theater baseball, and identity politics that is darkly funny and madcap. I could have spent hours with the wackadoodle Helmer Trio...Themes of sibling rivalry, parental neglect, and inherited trauma abound... While all this might sound incongruous, there is a strong dramaturgical base (shout out to dramaturg Sibert).