In Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, the two characters delve into a bitter argument at a bar. Roberta is a single mother of a teenage son who spends her evenings partying, hoping to boost her self-esteem. Danny is a misunderstood loner who lives with his mother. The two strangers share their self-destructive habits and battles with addiction. As the characters excavate their deep darknesses, they make room for empathy.
Academy Award winner John Patrick Shanley wrote Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, his second play, in 1984. Shanley is known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt: A Parable, and writes searing dramas that explore complex, human topics. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea premiered at the Humana Festival of New Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville before debuting in downtown New York with the Circle in the Square Theatre.
The play is some 40 years old but it holds up quite nicely today. Though Shanley makes clear it’s set in the Bronx, there’s no other direction indicating a period in time. In fact, it might be even more timely now considering the alienating nature of technology in contemporary society as people share the same space yet feel so far apart. I’m not sure why the play has not had more New York revivals beyond the one in 2004. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea may be a small play but it has a big heart beating erratically beneath its turbulent surface.
Yet Ms. Plaza’s work in this maiden voyage is deeply impressive — so impressive that were I to have seen this “Danny” knowing nothing about its stars and been asked which one had no prior theater experience, I’d have been stumped. That’s in no way a negative reflection on Mr. Abbott; what’s most striking about the staging, in fact, is the seemingly effortless rapport between the performers, even as they’re playing characters to whom little has come easily.
1984 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2004 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2023 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | Aubrey Plaza |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | Danny and the Deep Blue Sea |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play | Christopher Abbott |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lighting Design | John Torres |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Revival | Danny and the Deep Blue Sea |
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