Poetic License
Opening Night: February 9, 2012
Closing: March 4, 2012
Theater: 59E59 Theaters
Poet Laureate to-be, John Grier, comfortably ensconced as a professor of literature in a renowned university, owes much of his success to his wife, Diane, who has been aggressively shepherding his career. When the daughter and her new boyfriend return home for the weekend, hidden secrets are revealed that threatens to destroy his esteemed reputation and career.
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February 20, 2012
By coincidence I saw “Seminar” on Broadway the night after I saw “Poetic License” at 59E59 Theaters.
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February 22, 2012
It’s hard to imagine that a crackling drama could revolve around a poet laureate’s career. But Jack Canfora’s “Poetic License” manages to render a tale of artistic ambition and hidden secrets with the breathlessness of a well-paced thriller.
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February 17, 2012
Language is a weapon in Jack Canfora’s nifty play about a prestigious poet with a nasty secret that, once it comes out, forces his loved ones to reevaluate their lives. Cynical yet fragile bard Katherine (Natalie Kuhn) brings her Shakespeare-quoting boyfriend Edmund (Ari Butler) home to meet her parents: acerbic mom Diane (Liza Vann, who dispenses barbs in between cocktails) and John (Geraint Wyn Davies), a seemingly soft-spoken professor who’s celebrating his birthday and forthcoming appointment as poet laureate. At first it seems like your average dysfunctional bourgeois family gathering—mom’s a bitch, daughter takes the bait, and dad plays peacemaker as the boyfriend looks on bewildered. But after one carefully dropped f-bomb, it quickly becomes clear that no one’s being honest about his or her motives or, in some cases, identities.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 16, 2012
A terrific new play which explores the blurred line between plagiarism and mutual cooperation; the secrets that haunt our lives; and the relationships among husbands and wives, parents and children, and young lovers.
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February 16, 2012
In Poetic License, now being presented at 59E59 Theatres, Jack Canfora spins an Albee-esque tale of family deceit tempered with a dose of realism. It’s clear from the beginning that something is off with this clan, but what that is in particular remains thankfully elusive for the better part of the one-act’s taut 80-minutes.
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