'The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire' Off-Broadway review — a powerful story of why we tell stories
Read our review of The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire off Broadway, a new play written by Anne Washburn and directed by Steve Cosson at Vineyard Theatre.
How do you process trauma? You write a play about it. That is what playwright Anne Washburn’s characters do again and again, a pattern that reflects our own history on this planet. In The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, her latest collaboration with The Civilians (artistic director Steve Cosson directs the production at Vineyard Theatre), the interpreters of this traumatic event are children, who write and stage a fantastical play-within-a-play to try to understand the death of a member of their intentional community.
Washburn follows the same formula as her seminal Mr. Burns, a post electric play: A defining event unfolds, with characters reacting shortly thereafter. A group reinterprets the defining event through theatre; the ultimate significance of the event is left up to the future. What makes Burning Cauldron different — and so rich — is the children, whose kings and princesses and dragons may represent their own desires as well as their observations of the adults in the commune. We know from an early interjection from the adult version of Milo (Bobby Moreno) that these hippies are not as trustworthy as they seem. With the children’s play stymied by lack of rehearsal, Mari’s (Marianne Rendón) quip that we can fill in the rest “in the theatre of your imagination” becomes a haunting promise of the terrifying unknown, made all the more real by an ending that blends fantasy and a cruel reality.
There are elements that don’t work: The narration from the adult Milo, and his revelation that he moves through the story more “like a god” than a commune member, is perhaps intended to be Dionysian, but his reflections are too sporadic and conveniently timed to tell more than they show. The use of Ghazal (Bartley Booz), a possibly intellectually disabled man who is abandoned at the community by his fellow travelers, is likewise not quite fleshed out. A magical, disabled seer (“Ghazal” is a poem, and at one point the character eats paper possibly containing one) is a trope of ancient texts that now feels patronizing, even (or especially) if the evocation of the past is the point.
Still, Washburn’s play is a puzzle box that expands at the speed of your own engagement. In thinking about Ghazal, I realized that one of the newborn piglets, too, eats a poem of Peter’s that the children place in the pen. What does it mean? Is there a definitive answer to be had about this or any other character, or is our own mining of our minds the point of the journey? The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire is a slow burn, the kind of work that sticks to you and makes you jump in the middle of the night after you leave the theatre. Its more confusing moments uncoil and reveal themselves to you, if only you give it the time it deserves.
The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire summary
In an intentional community in California, a group is shocked to find that relative newcomer Peter (Tom Pecinka) has died by suicide in their ramshackle home. In the aftermath, the group’s leader further isolates them from the outside world, Peter’s brother Will (also Pecinka) arrives to look for him, and the children stage a play about Peter.
Throughout, the play is narrated by Mari’s son Milo (Bobby Moreno), who grew up in the community but leaves as an adult and is now reflecting on his childhood.
What to expect at The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire
The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire runs approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission. The production uses smoke and haze and contains in-depth discussions of suicide, murder, rape, the abuse of a corpse, drug use, and animal butchering.
The Vineyard features raked seating for a proscenium stage. Lighting designer Amith Chandrashaker’s sunrises and sunsets and sound designer and composer Ryan Gamblin’s bird calls help the audience feel like they are experiencing the same flow of time as the members of the secluded commune.
What audiences are saying about The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire
As of writing, The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire has an audience approval rating of 56% on the review aggregator Show-Score.
- Show-Score user GreatAvi calls Washburn “one of our most distinct and intriguing playwrights” and gives Burning Cauldron five stars.
- The New Yorker critic Helen Shaw recommends The Burning Cauldron among other new works from “several of our finest playwrights” on stage this fall.
- Show-Score user chris_ wrote that the script “insert[s] a strong amount of pretentious oddness” that distracts from the plot.
Read more audience reviews of The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire on Show-Score.
Who should see The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire
- If you caught Playwrights Horizons’s 2024 10th-anniversary concert reading of Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post electric play (or if you weren’t able to snag tickets), you won’t want to miss the playwright’s latest offering.
- Puppetry fans, rejoice: Monkey Boys Productions, known for their film and television work as well as the acclaimed dinosaur of Lincoln Center Theater’s The Skin of Our Teeth, bring more creations to life in Burning Cauldron, including a frighteningly impressive dragon.
- If you keep up with the new play development scene, you’ll want to see Burning Cauldron not just to hear Washburn’s words, but to see Cricket Brown (Gracie), who starred in The Tank’s Lobster last season, and Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Diana) of Playwrights Horizons’s In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot.
Learn more about The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire off Broadway
Washburn and Cosson’s latest collaboration is a powerful exploration of why we continue to make up stories and act them out for others, even if we know they cannot say what we truly feel. The ensemble shines with movement coordinator Lisa Fagan’s choreography of gestures and their commitment to the world they have built at all costs.
Photo credit: The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire off Broadway. (Photos by Carol Rosegg)
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