​"The Seven Year Disappear" is a non linear, performance art play that deals with a mother, Miriam (Cynthia Nixon) and her son, business partner (Taylor Trensch). Nixon is a famous artist who has left her son Naphtali for seven years only to return leaving him confused. The illusion of Bi-Polar disorder surfaces as both mother and son struggle with mental disorders and substance abuse. Writer Jordan Seavey has created a body of work in which the audience decides what the play is really about... the journey here is the thing; and quite a journey it is!

 "Seven Year Disappear" is a modern play; it is not for the faint of heart as it deals with AIDS, Alcoholism, drug addiction and mental disorder. Serving the more progressive theater goer this performance play will resonate for the entire 90 minutes. The more traditional theater person may find this play difficult to keep up with. Scenes move in and out with no particular order, we see past relationships of both characters and the intimacy's that they experience. Director Scott Ellis let's us see the vulnerabilities in their lives and the rocky relationships that they share. Trying to make sense of it all, Ellis has the actors in peak form; we believe these people and the world that they live in. 
 What is most notable about this play is the deft acting in Nixon, changing roles, accents and body language, Nixon plays one of her best roles that I have seen in her stellar career. Trensch too is very good  throughout the show; both blend superbly together. The scenic design by Derek Mclane

and the lighting by Jeff Croiter is some of the best I have witnessed in a long time! On a black and white set, the purples that Croiter hits the stage with are breathtaking as it adds to the very cool setting. The feeling of a retro atmosphere permeates the stage. The last thing that is most noteworthy is the projection by John Narun. Much of the action is off stage if you will, we only see the faces of the actors and often in the back of the stage away from us. Narun keeps it suspenseful, somewhat erotic and perfectly captures the pulse of this play.

 The New Group has had two great plays so far this year; Sabbath's Theatre and now this one. Although not all the scenes are memorable and the play gets slow at times and the political commentary is unnecessary, it is a different kind of play that brings a different take to the audience.

Many of the New York City more noteworthy theater companies have been around for a long time and Frog & Peach is one of them. The company was based out of The Sheen for many years and now puts on many of their plays at Theatre at St. Clements on West 46th St.
The familiarity of a theater company can be a good thing, after-all, The Bard himself traveled around England with his very own theater company and setting up theater stages whenever it was feasible to do so. Shakespeare would often change the lead actors around depending on the natural lighting, the stage space and the different regions that they traveled.
The problem with today's theater companies is that you run the end lines of talent; some are more talented than others, some are better at certain genres than others. At times, companies run the risk of even having to put actors in roles that they just aren't that good in.
Set on a simple stage this King Lear runs the gambit of emotions. While the fight scenes are all very good (Marcus Watson) the direction fades in and then fades out (Lynnea Benson). The lighting by Dennis Parichy as well as the sound make this "Lear " comfortable to watch in the pleasant atmosphere that is St. Clements.
In this "King Lear" the problems arise with two of the main characters: the King himself "Greg Mullavey" and David Elyha as the Earl of Gloucester. In the King we can never believe that he is a powerful man as he appears on stage. Mullavey mutters his words at time which not only was difficult to hear at times, but just never came across as believable as a strong-willed leader. Elyha too seemed weak as The Earl, frail and having miscues with lines and body language made this performance inconsistent.
The set design is minimal but it was effective, we never needed more than what Asa Benally provided. Benally also provided the costumes which made no sense, (The King in a trendy leather jacket? Elyha in John Lennon type round sunglasses?). I could go deeper into detail about the costumes, however, I mention just two examples because most of the costumes detracted from the Shakespearean play. The guards looked more like Black Panthers in the 60's than they did in a classic play; in fact the whole cast seemed to be thrown together in rag tag cloths.
In Benson's direction the audience gets a mish mosh of emotion and body language. Many of the important lines in the play were either spoken as an after thought or delivered as a matter-of-factually. The core actors never brought the intensity that is needed in this play, especially The King. While his daughters and husbands were good, Eric Doss as The Fool was a standout. His "business", body language was great throughout the performance. As Edgar, DazMann Still too had the audience mesmerized by his performance. But this all left a huge void in the performance... good acting vs mediocre, vs bad acting. The end result is that the "King Lear" was so-so at best. In this two hour run with one intermission, we went from good parts to bad all afternoon.