Two things to know before going to see teen drama epic, Initiative: It’s five-and-a-half-hours long, and contains a lot of Dungeons & Dragons.

You need to have staying power for this long, long play (Public Theater, to Dec. 7)—a smattering of our audience bailed during each of the show’s two 15-minute intervals. Surely, you might think, if it’s pitched at such an epic length there must be an epic point to it. But if you’re a teen drama fan you’ve pretty much seen it all in your favorite shows and movies.

Perhaps it was the many minutes given over to the playing of D&D (fans of which will be in clover). Or maybe it was its fits-and-starts storytelling, but Initiative—written by Else Went, and directed by Emma Rosa Went—may leave you wondering something rather blunt: Why is it so long?

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