A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians at Trap Door Theatre

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Director Max Truax draws the audience into the characters' disoriented world: his actors walk around rather than attempt to realistically represent sitting in a car, while video designer Aaron Covich's grainy highway footage heightens this hallucinatory road movie for the stage."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"... Acting must carry this production, and it certainly does with Tiffany Bedwell as Dzina and Kevin Cox as Parcha. Bedwell's appealing gamin look makes one wonder why this quietly-deep young woman has hooked with the creepy Parcha. Cox, fresh from outstanding work in Bohemian Theatre Ensemble's Playing With Fire, conveys almost-out-of-control energy in Parcha's drug-fueled early scenes and desperation as the binge high wears off."

Chicago Stage Review - Recommended

"...Inhabited by insane characters delivering absurd dialogue, Trap Door Theatre’s U.S. Premiere of A Couple of Poor, Polish Speaking Romanians is just the type of theatrical discovery that this fearless company has come to be known for. Playwright Dorota Maslowska has created a ‘bad buzz’ with some delightful rushes and Director Max Traux creates the narcotic fueled road trip with wit and tension."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...Romanians stars the always busy and never less than excellent Cox as a vain vulgarian who understands little other than his own celebrity, and Bedwell, whose silhouette and alert-but-weary vulnerability uncannily recalls Trap Door legend Nicole Wiesner. The longer their characters are together on the wildly surreal road, the more they dislike and, to their intense dismay, need each other. Their wicked chemistry draws you in even as the playwright dares you to run screaming the other way."

ChicagoCritic - Not Recommended

"...All the emotional rages and the wacky characters couldn’t save this show. Its much too long–at 1 hour and 50 minutes without intermission. The audience became restless due mainly too the shows lack of focus. It lost me early on as the lengthy diatribes seemed more wordy that coherent. Once the show lost the audience, we couldn’t wait for it to end. Too bad since Kevin Cox and Tiffany Bedwell worked so hard to make dense material palatable. A cut of 30 minutes and a clear focus would help this show. As it plays now, we wonder what is going on here?"