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New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Lowcountry' Review: A Flat-Footed First Date
There's exposition, and then there's a high-debit download like in the opening scene of 'Lowcountry,' at Atlantic Theater Company. David (Babak Tafti) is making dinner, changing into clean clothes, neatening things up around his down-at-the-heels studio apartment. All the while he is on the phone with Paul (Keith Kupferer). David is on speaker, so we hear both sides, which allows the playwright Abby Rosebrock to deliver — more or less smoothly — heaps of background information. It also lets the audience seize on the production's gist: unafraid of melodramatic turns, heavy-handed, often logic-defying. David, we learn, once had to wear an ankle monitor, is involved in a custody battle, is a sex pest and works as a line cook at a Waffle House — a Bojangles takeout bag is another hint that we're in the South. (The scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado and the costume designer Sarah Laux do what they can to evoke a guy with more problems than dollars.) On the other end of the line, Paul is David's sponsor in a recovery program, and his purported concern and care barely hide a whiff of bossy paternalism. With only a disembodied voice, Kupferer, who was superb last year in the acclaimed film 'Ghostlight,' injects a vaguely unsettling dimension to his character's good ol' boy — or rather good ol' grandpa — persona. You can almost picture Paul, pacing by his pool on a phone, dispensing support that smells strongly of controlling judgment. Then again, he knows David better than we do. And the younger man, who's preparing for a first date with a woman he met on Tinder, is, indeed, lying to Paul: He's not actually going on a picnic — she's coming to his place for dinner. That Tally (Jodi Balfour, from the series 'Ted Lasso' and 'For All Mankind') is willing to meet a stranger at his home rather than in a neutral spot is one of several mysteries bobbing about in her wake. She looks comfortable in her own skin but also leans heavily on self-deprecating jokes that suggest fault lines. She appears forthright, but many of her answers to David's getting-to-know-you questions are vague, which of course makes them more tantalizing. Tally shares that she was into self-help to deal with the aftermath of 'Garden-variety sex stuff and workplace stuff, workplace abuse wage-theft poverty blah blah blah …' Then she coolly informs David that Bill Clinton killed her mother. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Time Out
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Lowcountry
Photograph: Courtesy of the artist | Jodi Balfour Jodi Balfour ( For All Mankind ) stars as a would-be actress who returns to her rural hometown and strikes up a relationship with an ankle-braceleted outcast , played by Babak Tafti, in a dark romantic comedy by Abby Rosebrock ( Blue Ridge ). Jo Bonney directs the world premiere at the Atlantic, which commissioned the play; Keith Kupferer completes the small cast . Thu, Jun 26, 2025 Fri, Jun 27, 2025 Sat, Jun 28, 2025 Sat, Jun 28, 2025 Sun, Jun 29, 2025 Sun, Jun 29, 2025 Tue, Jul 1, 2025 Wed, Jul 2, 2025 Wed, Jul 2, 2025 Thu, Jul 3, 2025 Show more By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. 🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed! Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Discover Time Out original video
