Give me Three, Four, Five Hours… and I Will Give You One Play
Theater-goers need a lot of extra time this season.
A production of “The Iceman Cometh” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music runs for four hours and 45 minutes. “Wolf Hall” parts 1 and 2 at the Winter Garden Theater will be a five-and-a-half-hour adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s two novels.
They come a few weeks after Wall Street Journal cultural writer Joanne Kaufman caused a furor by confessing in a column that she leaves at intermission at most Broadway plays —which often run for 2.5 hours.
In this interview, two critics debate whether some theater is too long. WNYC's Jennifer Vanasco said yes. “The audience pays in time, not just money,” she said.
But Time Out New York's Adam Feldman disagreed. “You get what you pay for, and if you invest more time, you may very well get a more rewarding experience."
Feldman pointed out that on Broadway, many of the most successful shows (“Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “The Book of Mormon”) are more than 2.5 hours. Yet, he said, there is a trend in modern theater to actually make shows shorter, with smaller casts that are easier to produce— for example,  “Constellations” (about 65mins) and “Disgraced” (about 85mins).
Feldman said those shows work, but they do feel a bit expensive. "Constellations is 65 minutes long, for $120 dollars a ticket, that's $2 dollars a minute, that's phone sex money," he said.
Vanasco said that those shows are wonderful and prove that works can be both complex — and short.
"Too short is never a problem," argued Vanasco. "I don't know a single person who walks out of a show and says, 'Wow, that could have been longer.'"
There have always been long plays. In Grecian times and in Shakespeare's day, when theater was one of the few entertainments around, theater was supposed to be a long undertaking. Even one of the masterpieces of our time, 'Angels in America' parts 1 and 2, is almost seven hours long.
Vanasco said not every show should be short. But the question playwrights and directors should ask themselves is: WHY is a show long? She said that longer doesn't equal better. “Is it just long because big egos don’t want anything cut? Or because they are hoping that if it’s longer, maybe it will make sense?” she said.
Feldman responded: "Theater time works differently. You can cut away what you think is the flab, but a lot of time you end up cutting the meat off."
What do you think? Are plays too long, or not? Have you ever left at intermission? Join the conversation with a comment.
Â
WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations
