The backroom may be Joey\u2019s ticket to financial freedom amid mounting medical bills, a rapidly changing post-Covid Kingston, and his own lack of motivation to do anything else with his middling life. But don\u2019t let the wacky ramblings of the drunken Martha (Tina Benko, who needs more physical comedy roles) deter you: There really is something strange afoot in that backroom. Or rather, a hand.<\/p>\n
Though the cast seems determined to make it work, The Holes doesn\u2019t quite land with the absurdist oomph Friedlich and director Michael Herwitz (who also directed Friedlich\u2019s acclaimed Job) hope for. It\u2019s not that the play isn\u2019t funny. It\u2019s hard not to laugh at the seriousness with which Wesley \u2014 who wants to buy the whole joint \u2014 tries to scale the concept of a backroom gloryhole or the way Martha preaches its appeal like gospel. (Her belief that the promise of an anonymous sexual release might\u2019ve curbed domestic violence and stopped school shootings in Kingston is both funny and sad as you realize she\u2019s probably right.)<\/p>\n
Weiler spends much of the play with his shoulders up to his ears as the standoffish Joey. He’s much too judgmental and sardonic to be a proper bartender, but his assessment of the backroom\u2019s \u201cteacher\u201d as a \u201ctrue pervert\u201d who does it for the thrill, not the money, almost made tears run down my face. Never mind that the setup Joey\u2019s describing is a huge exploitation of labor \u2014 we\u2019re not meant to take The Holes too seriously until we are, when a moment of clarity rocks the audience’s and the characters\u2019 worlds.<\/p>\n
Or at least, that\u2019s what The Holes is striving to achieve, but it’s too unbalanced. Martha’s dialogue puts her just over the line into caricature, and Friedlich’s designations of madness just doesn\u2019t add up. Either Martha has totally lost her mind with her theory of what makes the backroom experience so unique, or Joey\u2019s crazy because he\u2019s the only one in town who\u2019s not a believer. The Holes tries to land in between and falls flat.<\/p>\n
That the mystery behind The Holes isn\u2019t terrifying so much as it is silly isn\u2019t a problem: Anything can feel life-altering and scary when treated with so much reverence, and if the play had leaned into the ridiculous the whole time, I would\u2019ve been happy to dive in headfirst. Sound designer Brandon Bulls and composer Zack Villere do their best to make the everyday feel ominous with their confidently creepy effects, but those effects need to be played for more than just scene transitions to cement the play\u2019s tone. The Holes wants to have it both ways as a straight drama about gentrification and an absurdist romp about sex, violence, and fragile masculinity, and with a meandering second act, it achieves neither. Though the premise is enough to earn laughter, what The Holes needs to do is commit to the bit.<\/p>\n
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The Holes summary<\/p>\n
The Holes follows Joey, a young man who finds himself bitterly back in his Hudson Valley hometown after he takes over the family business. While his (mostly) unseen father, Phil, deals with end-stage rectal cancer, Joey tries to keep the bar afloat and authentic by charging cash for a mysterious backroom experience that locals love and new online fans covet.<\/p>\n
When a Manhattan businessman offers to transform the bar into an elite club for men who will pay big money for an escape into the backroom, Joey is initially torn between his community and the promise of financial security. When locals Martha and Carson begin spreading rumors about who is in control of the backroom, Joey faces a battle no one saw coming.<\/p>\n
What to expect at The Holes<\/p>\n
The Holes runs approximately 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission. It includes discussions of sex, bullying, homophobia, alcoholism, and the deaths of parents and children, as well as a brief sequence of onstage simulated violence with prop blood. The action unfolds on the bar set by Anna Grigo, who captures the lived-in appeal of a town watering hole and then transforms it into an aspirational Instagram backdrop after intermission.<\/p>\n
Friedlich\u2019s play leans into the absurd slowly, building a humorous tension until Joey and the audience are both wondering which theory about the backroom is sound and which is full of, well, holes. The cast had to pause multiple times during the second act to wait for my audience to calm down from laughing so hard at the ridiculous situations put forth; Joey\u2019s blunt description of one unseen character is particularly funny.<\/p>\n
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What audiences are saying about The Holes<\/p>\n
On theatre review forums like Mezzanine, The Holes has received positive responses from audience members at early performances.<\/p>\n
Mezzanine user Michael Coppola calls The Holes \u201cfunny, unique, compelling, and somehow way better than its synopsis could lead you to believe.\u201d
\nMezzanine user Caleb Grochalski says he enjoyed \u201celements of naturalism and also surrealism playing with each other\u201d at The Holes.
\nIn a five-star Mezzanine review, user Michael Villane writes simply, \u201cBubba Weiler is a god.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who should see The Holes<\/p>\n
Fans of Bubba Weiler\u2019s recent Off-Broadway hits Well, I\u2019ll Let You Go and The Saviors, both of which he wrote, will relish the chance to see him back on stage.
\nIf you enjoyed \u2014 or were curious about \u2014 Friedlich and Herwitz\u2019s thriller Job off or on Broadway, you may want to check out the more humorous fare of The Holes.
\nIf you watch every off-kilter arthouse movie Robert Pattinson stars in, you\u2019ll want to see The Holes: He\u2019s an executive producer with his company Icki Eneo Arlo.<\/p>\n
Learn more about The Holes off Broadway<\/p>\n
The cast of The Holes delivers as many laughs as they can, and though the play feels too long and out of order by the end, the performances aren\u2019t tiring.<\/p>\n