The Broken Heart
Opening Night: February 4, 2012
Closing: March 4, 2012
Theater: Duke on 42nd Street
The Broken Heart, a 1629 tragic-comic gem written by John Ford, (Tis Pity She’s a Whore), is set in ancient Sparta, but Ford’s world more closely resembles the 17th Century court of Charles II. A young woman forced to marry a ridiculously jealous codger. A cruel nobleman bent on frustrating his sister’s happiness. A princess who tries to stand aloof from the emotional discord, but lives to feel love ruining her composure. These are the main plot engines.
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February 14, 2012
“Our court wears gravity more than we relish,” says the Spartan King Amyclas, hoping for some festive wedding celebrations to raise the collective spirits, in “The Broken Heart,” a 17th-century drama by John Ford being presented at the Duke on 42nd Street by Theater for a New Audience.
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February 15, 2012
Love collides with gory revenge in John Ford’s rarely produced tragedy The Broken Heart, which is getting a welcome production from Theatre for a New Audience at the Duke on 42nd. It’s a dense play that could leave contemporary theatergoers scratching their heads. And yet, in Selina Cartmell’s astonishingly lucid and ravishingly beautiful production, the piece simply rivets audiences’ attention.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 13, 2012
In this rarely seen 1629 revenge drama by John Ford set in ancient Sparta, a character makes a heavenly appeal: "Apollo, inspire my intellect!" This reviewer would like to invoke the same sentiment in delivering a song of praise for this peerless production from Theatre for a New Audience. Hallelujah for the ever-inventive director, Selina Cartmell, who has taken a difficult poetic play and made it accessible to all. There’s hardly a false note in this stylish—some might say chic—presentation that happily also succeeds in conveying a definite emotional punch. For in Ford’s remarkable play, though most of the characters endure a world of extremes, there is a prevailing restraint, a kind of elegance in a mad universe. That elusive quality is what the director and her superior cast capture, creating a production no serious theatergoer should miss.
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