cover image by Dylan Sanford & Kaveh Haerian
“CARNIVAL ROUND THE CENTRAL
FIGURE is steeped in the absurd—the man’s face is caked with white makeup, and a
menacing nurse sits nearby, holding a needle about three feet long. Yet like
much in this clever and confounding meditation on dying, what is unusual can
also be affecting. CARNIVAL is a funny and beguiling 100 minutes, aimed at those
eager for an experimental look into its themes. In the end the play merely
reminds us of the obvious: we’re all destined to die. Yet it’s a message that
bears repeating. Such great truths are too often ignored, and are best told with
a nervous laugh.”
The New York
Times
“Comedies
don't come much darker than Diana Amsterdam's CARNIVAL ROUND THE CENTRAL FIGURE,
a hard-core but justified lampooning of the strange etiquette we adhere to when
watching loved ones pass away. Amsterdam's relentless script makes a glib
burlesque out of the oblique religious platitudes, idle chitchat, and
straight-up dishonesty we typically inflict upon the dying.”
Backstage
“CARNIVAL
ROUND THE CENTRAL FIGURE will certainly strike a powerful chord...
New York Post
premiered at I R T Theater, New York
6+ M, 5+ F
I S B N 978-0-88145-504-5
$14.95