The North Pool presented by Interrobang Theatre Project at Athenaeum Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Yes, Khadim is perhaps an easier target as an immigrant and a Muslim. Yes, Danielson's proprietary interest in his students has a whiff of creepy paternalism. His parochialism (he's an alum of the school and keeps a photo from his wrestling team days on the credenza) stands in contrast to cosmopolitan, speaks-six-languages Khadim. But Khadim's cucumber-cool hipster persona also begins to crack, right along with Danielson's own sense that he is in charge of what's happening in that room. (Greg Pinsoneault's note-perfect set, with its institutional blandness, adds to the growing sense of claustrophobic dread.)"

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Well-wrought and judicious, Rajiv Joseph's 2013 two-hander is a whodunit with a heart, exploiting our preconceived notions about people like Khadim and Danielson both to heighten its mystery and deliver its moral. James Yost's 80-minute staging for Interrobang Theatre is competent but a little crabbed in that it gets us compellingly to the point yet fails to take full advantage of the psychic and physical violence inherent in the situation. Set designer Greg Pinsoneault does a great job of reproducing the classic school administrator's office."

Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended

"...Director Yost cunningly orchestrates their escalating encounter, a crescendo of secret sharing and self-exposes. It's fascinating how the power imbalance between school official and problem pupil slowly gets leveled. Well, in a seemingly unequal clash of characters that's the only way that truth (and accountability) will out or humanity can happen. Watching Joseph's taut work achieve that precarious balance is a very guilty pleasure."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...Followers of up-and-coming American playwrights will be familiar with Rajiv Joseph's experiments with a variety of dramatic styles. Though known for highly symbolic and fantastic works like Gruesome Playground Injuries, and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, in his 2013 The North Pool, Joseph proved that the old fashioned naturalistic play, in which most of the action has already occurred and the characters are simply teasing information out of each other, still has legs. Of course, it helps the play enormously to have a production such as that of Interrobang Co-Artistic Director James Yost and his two perfectly cast actors. The North Pool keeps the audience in diabolical suspense, as a shady duo of high school student and vice-principal match wits against a backdrop of death and corruption."

Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended

"...It's no accident that The North Pool begins with a hoodie. Khadim (Salar Ardebili) enters the vice principal's office sporting the very garment that has generated so much controversy, in a supposedly progressive age during which young men of color risk their lives by leaving their homes, driving cars or purchasing snacks. In Khadim's case, it's the last day before spring break at his new school and Dr. Danielson (Rob Frankel) wants to talk to him. Khadim does not know the reason for this meeting, but Dr. Danielson has a definite agenda. What follows plays out in 80 minutes of real time, and feels strangely anticlimactic. While playwright Rajiv Joseph has penned a strong, dynamic script and the two actors mostly carry it off well, director James Yost has almost shied away from the tough subject matter that makes plays like The North Pool so important."