Sons of the Prophet

'"Ravishing" is the best word for Stephen Karam's new comedy. At once deep, deft and beautifully made, Sons of the Prophet stares unflinchingly at the Gorgon's head of grief – the kind of grief on which words have no purchase, the indigestible pain that never really goes away... Some things are lost; some are found; some are gone forever. Sons of the Prophet ponders this hard truth; it makes us consider the unacceptable'

-- John Lahr * New Yorker *

'Devastating and thrilling... by turns grave, poetic, wrenching, wry and madcap, Sons of the Prophet... defies easy categorization. And it confirms [Karam]... as a major voice in American theater'

* Vogue *

'To observe that a play about extreme suffering is also explosively funny might seem absurd. But one of the many soul-piercing truths in Sons of the Prophet, the absolutely wonderful new comedy-drama by Stephen Karam, is that life rarely obeys the rules of dramatic consistency, or, for that matter, fair play... And with unerring sensitivity he finds the sweet spot at which laughing at the horrors of life and feeling compassion for those who must endure them intersect'

-- Charles Isherwood * New York Times *

'A real gem of a play... a grimly brilliant comedy that's very, very funny... it's a tribute to Karam's skill as a playwright that so much hope and humour shine through this broken but colourful stained-glass-window of a play'

* Time Out *

'A brilliant tragicomedy... a timeless delight... Heavens this is good writing... Caustically funny, richly human, it somehow feels familiar and not quite like anything you've seen before... tremendous'

* The Times *

'A subtle exploration of suffering, the perfect mix of pain and comedy... Thoroughly original, brilliantly constructed and thematically compelling... an enthralling experience, both intellectually and emotionally... Karam's writing is both humane and often bleakly hilarious'

* Arts Desk *

'A beauty... Hard to express how much I loved Stephen Karam's play... Its joy is in combining Chekhovian tragicomedy with light-touch commentary on many things: religion, media, brotherhood, forgiveness, neediness, emotional colonisation of other people's griefs, and the cruel absurdities of American healthcare... touching and downright hilarious'

* TheatreC