All Nighter

Benedict Nguyễn on folie à cinq in Natalie Margolin’s play All Nighter.

The person on my left heard about All Nighter from TikTok. I heard about the play from my friend, who’s a big fan of one of the actresses and was my plus-one. As we left, she compared the play to Girls, which somehow, I still have never watched so can’t speak to it. 

But in Natalie Margolin’s 95-minute bottle play (no intermission, at MCC Theater through May 18), there is definitely Girl. In the glass-domed student center at a small liberal arts college, four female roommates pull one last sleepless night before finals week and graduation. As last night’s hangover mixes with Adderall, white wine, and sleep deprivation, all the hysterical sweetness and festering resentment within their complex friendships bounces around the ‘fishbowl’ set (designed by Wilson Chin). Even as their characters are taking private phone calls in a corner, the audience can see their multiple blurry reflections floating in the background.

Further reading: The Girls rewatch

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