Theater in NYC: Socrates at The Public Theater
The world premiere of Socrates by Tim Blake Nelson opens 2019 Onassis Festival: Democracy is Coming at The Public Theater in New York City from April 2 – June 2, 2019
The fast-paced historical play about the life of the Athenian philosopher Socrates and the events that led to his infamous trial and death sentence anchors 2019 Onassis Festival: Democracy is Coming. Written by Tim Blake Nelson, an acclaimed actor, director, and writer (O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Holes; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), the play transports the audience to ancient Athens around 430 – 369 BCE. The play faithfully recounts the start of the devastating Peloponnesian War, Socrates life and mission in Athens, his trial in 399 BCE, and Plato’s meeting of his young student.
Tony Award-winning director Doug Hughes (Doubt; Junk) recreates the energy, tensions, and customs of the distant past with a superb cast, austere stage design, and a powerful juxtaposition of blind certainty vs the infinite quest for truth. Socrates, played by Michael Stuhlbarg (The Public: Hamlet; Films: A Serious Man; Call Me by Your Name; The Shape of Water), vividly engages the actors and the audience with his insatiable questions and eagerness to learn. Under Hughes’ direction, every actor from the young boy, Niall Cunningham, to Plato, Teagle F. Bougere (The Public: Julius Caesar) to very real but helpless Xanthippe, Miriam A. Hyman (The Public: Richard III) skillfully make the story of Socrates come alive.
Come see the great theatrical performance at The Public Theater. The $20 Rush Tickets are exclusively available from TodayTix.
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Socrates, who lived in 470 – 399 BCE Athens, introduced the didactic method of getting to the core of any problem by asking questions and looking for logical answers. Everything that we know about Socrates comes from the writings of Plato, his friend and follower, and other contemporary philosophers. Famously claiming to know nothing, Socrates never abandons the search for knowledge. His endless questioning of each and everyone around him was bound to bring disaster particularly at the tenuous time of war which led to the eventual defeat of democratic Athens to its archival Sparta.
From what we know from Plato and others, Socrates refused to take the role of teacher and was strongly against the recording of his ideas. In Nelson’s play, Socrates says that “Writing distorts the truth.” Strange as it might be, Socrates seemed to be way ahead of his and, in fact, even our time by stating “I fear a time when all knowledge is outside of us, and we have nothing in our minds at all.” The allegory seems to refer to our over-reliance on online data and AI.
In Doug Hughes brilliant direction, the audience plays the role of the agora bystanders, the dikasts of Athens’s democracy, and finally the witnesses to Socrates’s demise.
Stuhlbarg’s genuine acting highlights the inquisitive power of Socrates’ intellect. Whenever he is on stage, he powerfully grabs the attention and skillfully presents himself as a relentless seeker of truth hiding behind the simple yet pointed questions. Often his actions become irritating and demonic at the same time. That is particularly apparent in his treatment of his wife Xanthippe, compellingly played by Miriam A. Hyman. Hyman’s enigmatic and desperate heroine is an emotional opposite to Stuhlbarg’s righteous prophet. And while he certainly loves his wife and his children, he is unable to step away from the high morals that he is advocating.
The harshest words in the script go to the misplaced authority and a powerless democracy. In perfect resonance with today’s reality, Socrates cautions about the suitability of the tyranny for man, “especially when tyranny is disguised as democracy.” The message underscores the play as a must see in our turbulent time.
Socrates at The Public theater is part of the Onassis Festival 2019: Democracy is Coming.
The play’s run time is 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission.
The $20 Rush Tickets are exclusively available from TodayTix. BUY $20 RUSH TICKETS 
Dates: April 2 – June 2, 2019
Venue: 425 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003
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