Reviews

The Fever by Wallace Shawn

zeyer_ayngenem's review against another edition

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5.0

Brilliant short solo play. Moral clarity and poetic contradiction that you’d expect from Wally Shawn If I manage to overcome my aversion to digital theatre maybe I’ll livestream a reading from my bathroom floor.

krytygr's review against another edition

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3.0

An American born woman travels to a poverty-stricken country in hopes to find a way to help. In the safety of her hotel room, she gazes out the window and reflects on what she sees: poverty, war and inequality.
We hear her inner thoughts on the situations at hand. And she asks herself the same think we’ve all wondered at some point: are we truly helping solve the problem or are we just a part of the issue? We who live in countries with more privileges take a lot of our daily lives for granted. We have a tendency to want to help but with no idea how to truly make a difference.

yomikoreadman's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jakeaccino's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

owen_z's review against another edition

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5.0

incredible/exemplary

live reading (part 1 | part 2), read by the author himself. (Wallace Shawn)

angelikareadsavariciously's review against another edition

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2.0

I found it to be incredibly boring and only finished it because it was short.

arilaurel's review against another edition

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5.0

Up until now, I knew Wallace Shawn only as the "inconceivable" guy in The Princess Bride. The Fever is ruthless and darkly funny. I actually laughed on the bus as the character laid out justification after justification for why they deserve service and finery, and their self-ideation as an "aesthete," only to immediately spew their dinner into a toilet bowl as they wrestle with the contradictions of their own neoliberal ideology. I recommend listening to a performance of this, as it really brings the text to life.

canadiantiquarian's review against another edition

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5.0

A precise, thoughtful, and engaging book that reads quickly, but does not follow the general assumptions linked to a "quick read."

clari's review

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challenging dark
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rbreadsbooks's review

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challenging reflective medium-paced

4.25