| A smart, good play. In 2022, at the Old Vic, Helen Hunt played the part here taken by Jessica Hecht. Hecht, singular and always great in a Sandy Dennis sort of way, gets deeper. Her fluttery liberal pieties are sweetly defensive; they hide a world of hurt and anger. The other puffed up liberals of EUREKA DAY are more broadly written and so less impactful; they’re mostly caricatures. The play needs a bit more speed than it has here, but even as it’s occasionally slack, it’s nonetheless thoughtful and, in the “community engagement meeting” most especially, uniquely funny. EUREKA DAY deftly satirizes both self satisfied liberalism and the reactionary right. It’s piquantly apt that this lampoon takes place in a romper room. Where’s the Magic Mirror when you need it? |
