The Last Five Years

"Beowulf Borrit's elegant de Chiricoesque setting, which suggests gravity gone haywire, conveys a matching sense of time out of joint." ~Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"Beowulf Boritt's deliciously ironic setting features an empty wedding scene (chairs and flowers, etc.) set on a vertical plane so that it hovers over the unhappy couple. ~Chris Jones, Daily Variety

"Designer Beowulf Boritt has devised a powerfully poetic set-the upended room of a wedding party, with chairs and wedding flowers at right angles to the stage floor, and the shattered foundations of the marriage lying in a pile." ~Hedy Weiss, The Chicago Sun-Times

"Beowulf Boritt's imaginative setting involves a bird's eye view of a circular white patio arranged with chairs as if for a just-concluded wedding ceremony. The décor suggests something that is already over, yet only just beginning, too- an apt visual metaphor for an uncommon musical." ~Michael Sommers, the Newark Star-Ledger

"They do it almost without changing Beowulf Boritt's basic costumes, which consist of unprepossessing daytime togs. Nor is there much change in the eye-popping unit set that Boritt has designed. Standing on its side upstage and looking as if it's about to topple is a circular white patio with 26 white folding chairs arranged for wedding guests, viewed as if from the air. It's a brilliant metaphor for a marriage fated to collapse. As the show progresses, Boritt employs a turntable to send out a few pieces of furniture...a bed, a chair made of Jamie's best-selling books, a series of small, papier mâché automobiles. The designer's spare work is a marvelous example of how the less-is-more theory can enhance a musical good enough not to need artificial enhancement." ~David Finkle, Theatremania

To view a Lighting and Sound America article about the set, click here