The Broken Heart (2011)

"Selina Cartmell’s wildly imaginative productions are the envy of older, more established figures throughout these islands, and actors dream of working with her."

"So what is it about these violent and baroque plays, four centuries old that haunt our contemporary imagination? What kind of culture did they spring from? And why are they once again filling our theatres?"

"The Broken Heart is a gripping, powerful and transformative drama that demonstrates the deeply moving humanity of one the finest playwrights of the Jacobean period. This timeless piece explores a society where men and women are tested to their limits."

"Ford’s writing is both muscular and florid, shifting between passion, comedy, bombast, ribald comedy and blind rage, and occasionally stopping your heart…"

"A Distinctive Masterpiece."

"A stately staging of this rarely seen play. By the conclusion, several of the principal characters have met dire ends. It is not surprising that the blood flowing from their veins is not the gaudy lipstick red you usually see onstage, but ink black. That’s an inspired touch."

"Theatre for a New Audience’s production of John Ford’s The Broken Heart offers a chance to witness classical English drama in a style other than Shakespeare’s. Selina Cartmell’s muted production is at the same time lucid, coherent and accessible, quite an achievement for a staging of a 17th century play that will be unfamiliar to most theatergoers."

"The production, directed by Selina Cartmell, is impressive and the cast includes some of Off Broadway’s finest performers."

"The Broken Heart’ may just wound or heal yours. It is definitely worth the time."

"The Broken Heart has all the hair-raising pleasures of the genre — grisly blood-lettings, whispered accusations of incest, creeping madness, starvation, and a whiff of necrophilia. This to-the-hilt (sometimes literally) drama is matched by to-the-hilt stagecraft in this magnificent production under Selina Carmell’s direction."

"A peerless production from Theatre for a New Audience. Hallelujah for the ever-inventive director, Selina Cartmell, who has taken a difficult poetic play and made it accessible to all. There’s hardly a false note in this stylish, chic­ presentation that happily also succeeds in conveying a definite emotional punch. A production no serious theatergoer should miss."

"Love collides with gory revenge in John Ford’s rarely produced tragedy, which is getting a welcome production from Theatre for a New Audience. In Selina Cartmell’s astonishingly lucid and ravishingly beautiful production, the piece simply rivets audiences’ attention."

"This stylish rendition of this rarely performed play captures all of its chills and black humor. The action is clear and swiftly paced, and the large ensemble does well by both the play’s poetic language and its intense physical demands."

"A sophisticated, insightful, classy production. The timelessness of Ford’s characters’ emotions enables director Selina Cartmell to make the work completely accessible to a modern audience."

"There’s a lot to admire in Selina Cartwell’s ghostly production … [with] several truly superb actors."

"Theatre for a New Audience and director Selina Cartmell deserve accolades not just for reviving Ford’s little-known The Broken Heart, but also for giving it the kind of revelatory production that proves it’s an overlooked classic. The ensemble is uniformly fine, Cartmell is obviously a classical director to watch."