“Sheer ambition… A breathtaking stunt!” – TimeOutNY (5 stars)
Five Stars:
Woodshed Collective proves itself up to old tricks in its marvelously intricate and involving new show. The sheer ambition of the project is impressive in and of itself: Set aboard the Lilac Steamship at Pier 40, The Confidence Man comprises at least a dozen of stories about charlatans and mountebanks, some of them adapted from Herman Melville’s novel of the same name. These tales, organized into three discrete tracks, are enacted simultaneously in 25 different playing areas for groups of spectators, who are escorted around the ship by six docents but free to wander as they please. On a technical level, it’s a breathtaking stunt.
But The Confidence Man is much better than it needs to be for gimmickry’s sake alone. Paul Cohen’s script—which, when all the tracks are included, is some 330 pages long—bulges splendidly with clever frills and fillips, and touches on interesting questions of knowledge and faith.
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