Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar's latest play offers a sharp and thought-provoking look at the ever-present humanity - and growing inhumanity - within the stories we create. Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. leads the show in the role of Jacob McNeal, a renowned author, often considered one of the greatest and a regular contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, he's also dealing with a strained relationship with his son, a new book, lingering grudges, and an obsessive interest in Artificial Intelligence. McNeal had its opening night at New York's Vivian Beaumont on 30 September, here's what the critics thought.

Critic Reviews Of McNeal

"Akhtar still makes important points about art being a uniquely human invention that connects the masses, and how computer-generated creations may be able to come close, but they could never replicate the same relationship." - Theatermania

"Downey, in his rumpled Important Novelist garb (costumes courtesy of Jennifer Moeller, on point as ever), is perfectly cast as Jacob McNeal, an old-school author he's sexist, misogynist, drinks too much, wallows in self-pity when he isn't shouting his self-important ambitions, narcissistic, dreams of Shakespeare, lives like Mailer." - Deadline

"Akhtar is a synthesizing playwright interested in picking apart vast systems, whether America's relationship to Islam or the financial markets." - Vulture

"Downey Jr.'s performance is the linchpin of the entire production, and it's a tribute to his gifts as an actor that he turns the work into an engrossing study of the intersection of art and the powers of cyber science. His McNeal is a deeply flawed individual and yet one who recognizes his shortcomings, though not enough to change. He explains "computers are our fondest enablers." - New York Stage Review

"The actor, whose company (Team Downey) is also attached to the project, is a commanding presence onstage, relishing in McNeal's smarminess and imbuing his quips with viper-like precision when anyone dares stand between him and success." - Entertainment Weekly