Infinite Life (play) explained

Infinite Life is a play by Annie Baker which premiered in 2023.

Plot

Infinite Life was slated to premiere in 2021 but opened in 2023 at the Atlantic Theater Company, in a production prepared in collaboration with the National Theatre of London, which is where the show continued its run after leaving the Linda Gross theater in New York. The play is a bout five women – four of them are in their 60s, one is 47 – staying at a health retreat in northern California. The play shows their interacation during various treatments and wellness programs. There is one minor role for a man. As The Guardian's reviewer summarized, "by wrapping up their discomfort in language and submitting to treatment meted out by the overseeing doctor [...], the women can liberate themselves by starving and articulating away their pain."^[1] Writing for The New York Times, Darryn King stated that it "is a play about the experience of pain — our own and each other’s. “Infinite Life” also goes further than Baker's other plays in its exploration of stillness."^[2]

Reviews

The critic for The Los Angeles Times wrote that " the accuracy of behavioral observation and the quality of empathy."^[3] Lauren Mechling ofThe Guardian called the play "often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious."

References

1. News: Mechling . Lauren . 2023-09-13 . Infinite Life review – Annie Baker’s latest production is timely but uneven . 2024-08-18 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
2. News: King . Darryn . 2023-08-30 . In Annie Baker’s Plays, Pay Attention to the Pauses . 2024-08-18 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
3. Web site: McNulty . Charles . 2023-10-04 . Commentary: Annie Baker chases nexus of pain and desire in hypnotic observational odyssey, ‘Infinite Life’ . 2024-08-18 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.