Produced by Theatre Replacement and Neworld Theatre in association with Crow’s Theatre
Winners and Losers
March 24 - March 26, 2017
Created and performed by Marcus Youssef and James Long
Winners and Losers is a staged conversation performance piece in which theatre artists and long-time friends, Marcus Youssef and James Long, sit at a table and play a game they made up called ‘winners and losers’. In it, they name people, places or things – Beyoncé, their fathers, rainforests, druids, etc. – and debate whether these things are winners or losers. Is Joe Biden a loser? Is Kanye West a winner? What about microwave ovens, Goldman Sachs or Mexico?
With debate subjects updated for every city, what starts out as a friendly competition between friends quickly becomes personal as they unpack layers of privilege, class and status each seeking to defeat the other.
“Tour de force… The men’s virtuoso wordplay is a delight… Winners and Losers is heady stuff. Formidable, indeed.”
-Globe and Mail
“a sly theatrical microcosm of how people compete”
–New Yorker
“A winner. The kind of play that makes you want to talk, and better still, to listen.”
4 of 5 stars. Critics’ Pick.
-Time Out New York
“WINNERS AND LOSERS hits the bull’s-eye..a sly, utterly successful production.”
-Village Voice
“a frisky theatrical symposium” “articulate, funny and breezily charming”
-New York Times
“Downtown powerhouse Soho Rep. has become known as New York’s most reliable source of innovative, thought-provoking, and daring theater and their new show WINNERS AND LOSERS only confirms this reputation.”
-Flavorpill
“Soho Rep. has been praised for making us rethink what is theater. It’s in that gray zone that WINNERS AND LOSERS fares best: When you no longer know what’s real and what’s a put on…You have to wonder how they can do this and still go for drinks together.”
3 of 4 stars
-New York Post
Youssef and Long “jump from topic to topic at lightning speed, leaving your mind swimming. They’re also very funny.”
-Theatermania
“WINNERS AND LOSERS looks a lot like open heart surgery. Metaphoric blood is spilled but, strangely, the experience for the audience is exhilarating. The possibility that friendship can survive or even be strengthened by such excruciating honesty is inspirational and opens up floodgates of introspection.”
-Vancouver Courier
“As the gloves come off, the intensity increases. The guiding theory behind the game is that you can’t have two winners sitting next to each other; for there to be a winner, the men reason, there has to be a loser.”
-Globe and Mail
