←Recommendations of The Arsonists

This was the first play I ever read on NPX, years ago, and I still think about it. Highly recommend.

I've always been a big fan of music in plays. Goldfinger uses it to great effect, here. THE ARSONISTS is a well of inspiration for playwrights in terms of breaking the molds of style.

The play has a lot to say about letting go... so much so that I find myself returning to it again and again.

The Arsonists offers vigorous, vital and wholly compelling storytelling, both by the characters and in the central narrative. M. faces the excruciatingly difficult task of letting go and there is real suspense in watching her reluctantly make the choices and take the actions that allow her to finally do so. There were so many moments in which I was shaken in a way that "moved" doesn't quite capture by scenes of harrowing emotional resonance enacted with clarity or described with elegant simplicity.

A feast for the senses. Souful. Elegaic. Intensely poetic, textural storytelling. Goldfinger spins haunting tales of the south like no one else.

I simply love this play. I have taught The Arsonists several different times and each time it blows my students away, while revealing something new to me. It is a gorgeous, brilliant piece of writing.

Just got a chance to see THE ARSONISTS at Benchmark Theatre. Wow. Beautiful and brutal, with haunting, lyrical language.

This play, in all its sweetness and pain, is such a moving tribute to a father and daughter's love. The austere context makes the warmth of their human partnership so accessible. Nicely done, Jacqueline Goldfinger.

A story of beauty, creation and destruction, grief, and love. THE ARSONISTS stunned me and changed me. Jacqueline Goldfinger deftly weaves together the deeply complex -
legacy, fate, mourning - in a way that feels easy. A play that will stay in your head and work on you long after it's over.

Wonderfully written. Poetic language. Unique portrayal of the stages of grief. I highly recommend this play.

I had the pleasure of seeing The Arsonists as part of the NNPN Showcase. This play is such a wonderful and uniquely Southern Gothic poem of a play. The father/daughter relationship is touching through its darkness. Gorgeous language. I highly recommend it.