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Infinite Life (play)

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Infinite Life is a play by Annie Baker which premiered in 2023. Infinite Life was slated to premiere in 2021 but opened in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company, in a production prepared in collaboration with the National Theatre of London, which is where the show continued its run after leaving the Linda Gross theater in New York.

Plot

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The play is about five women – four of them are in their 60s, one is 47 – staying at a health retreat in northern California. The play shows their interacation during various treatments and wellness programs. There is one minor role for a man.

Reviews

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As The Guardian's reviewer summarized, "by wrapping up their discomfort in language and submitting to treatment meted out by the overseeing doctor [...], the women can liberate themselves by starving and articulating away their pain."[1]

Writing for The New York Times, Darryn King stated that it "is a play about the experience of pain — our own and each other’s. “Infinite Life” also goes further than Baker's other plays in its exploration of stillness."[2]

The critic for the Los Angeles Times wrote that the play is notable for "the accuracy of behavioral observation and the quality of empathy."[3] Lauren Mechling of The Guardian called the play "often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious."[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mechling, Lauren (2023-09-13). "Infinite Life review – Annie Baker's latest production is timely but uneven". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  2. ^ King, Darryn (2023-08-30). "In Annie Baker's Plays, Pay Attention to the Pauses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
  3. ^ McNulty, Charles (2023-10-04). "Commentary: Annie Baker chases nexus of pain and desire in hypnotic observational odyssey, 'Infinite Life'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-08-18.