Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Those seeking the poetry of Racine may be disappointed in Schmidt's contemporized language. But it's leavened by an ironic thread well served by Wiesner's approach, which treats the characters as if they are spectators at their own pageant of impulsive passions. J. Michael Griggs' set design includes niches in which the characters stand when not "onstage," gesticulating and posing like runway models waiting in the wings."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Wiesner creates arresting, confounding stage images, as out-of-scene characters get sucked into squares of light lining the stage's periphery, where they seem doomed to pose and primp as their world collapses. While the images don't evolve significantly over the show's 75 minutes (and they all but vanish in a climax overly dependent on melodramatic acting), Wiesner's eye for the inexplicably resonant is characteristically sharp. And it is precisely from the collision of inexplicability and resonance that this show, like so many at Trap Door over the years, draws its power."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Trap Door’s Phèdre is likely to inspire polemic reactions: one either finds an affinity with the subject matter or the avant-garde; or else one is so blown away (or offended) as to find oneself in the restaurant next door, absently admiring the color palette of the walls. But for fans of Trap Door’s avant-garde style, or those with open minds looking for something fresh in this often pedestrian Chicago theatre scene, Phèdre is well-worth the time and money for a taste of rare delicacy."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The story of Phaedra’s quasi-incestuous one-sided obsession with her step-son, which was dramatized by ancient writers Euripides and Seneca, is still told mostly through Racine’s lens: Transcendent Ensemble Theatre Company performed an adaptation of Racine’s text by Matthew Maguire a few years ago, and Court Theatre performed the Paul Schmidt version in 2002. Still, in the absence of a neo-classical school of acting, how is it possible to perform any version of Racine’s text? That’s where Trap Door comes in."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Paul Schmidt translated and adapted the script for Phedre. Wiesner's direction slickly choreographs the movement of pairs of characters from scene to scene. Throughout the play, two characters perform in most scenes. The other performers arrange themselves around the stage perimeter, writhing, dancing and moaning/chanting-because they are the chorus."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Dennis Bisto is a solid Hippolytus, at once staunch and vulnerable. Tiffany Bedwell acts her heart out-to a fault-as the imperious but self-loathing Phedre, who declares that "love spreads like poison in our family." But why is the dramatically dead butch character of Theramenes (John Kahara), Hippolytus' friend and confidant, tarted up in fishnet stockings and mascara as thick as drywall? Whatever shock value this directorial choice might have comes at the expense of thematic coherence and integrity. And in a story as sad as this one, Phedre's dominatrix outfit, courtesy of costume designer Rachel Sypniewski, just adds insult to injury."
