←

FERTILE GROUND by Jennifer O'Grady

  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Jillian Blevins:
    20 Sep. 2023
    “ A taut domestic tragedy set against the backdrop of the unthinkable horror of filicide, FERTILE GROUND explores a dark (and relatable) niche of the human psyche. O’Grady’s layered characters each look at each other and see someone who has what they themselves desperately desire—a child, a loving partner, freedom—and who has taken it for granted. The tragic action unfolds when that assumption leads them to betrayal, and worse. Most intriguing is the hauntingly spare characterization of Willa, whose horrific crime throws the rest of the play into stark relief. ”
  • Aly Kantor:
    16 Sep. 2023
    “ This tight, tense, and addictively readable drama does something incredible - it manages to illustrate how impossible it is to thrive as a woman under the patriarchy. Amazingly, it accomplishes this while maintaining a strikingly close point-of-view on a handful of very flawed, incredibly broken characters. The play is simultaneously heightened and believable, and the characters could easily be people you know. It is carefully crafted and enticingly structured so that everything falls into place like in the best Greek tragedies. The threads effortlessly come together, forming a chilling but illuminating story about cycles of violence and the monstrous feminine. ”
  • Kim E. Ruyle:
    9 Apr. 2023
    “ Fertile Ground is absolutely gut-wrenching. Jennifer O’Grady masterfully sets up the dominoes, and they fall with precision as the play unfolds. The multi-dimensioned characters are flawed, but we care about each one and can’t help but be horrified by the tragedy of this tale but left with a sliver of hope, a beam of light and life in the end. Truly fantastic writing. ”
  • Jack Levine:
    6 Jun. 2022
    “ JENNIFER O’GRADY’s play deals with the struggles faced by those women who desperately want a baby but can’t, those women who have a baby and find it a challenge, and those women who do things nobody else can understand. As a man, I cannot possibly fully comprehend what a woman feels, but to the extent possible, this play informed me, rocked me, and made me think about a subject foreign to my own world. “Fertile Ground” captivated me, as it will any audience. This is a powerful play and so well done. BRAVO! ”