Core of the Pudel Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Shadow puppets, a paper "cranky" providing the "chapter" titles, and Lauren Vogel's live solo violin accompaniment and snippets of German oompah music add piquant and sometimes-sardonic touches, even as the narrative throughline gets a bit woolly. But Pasculli's piece triumphs most in its visceral and daring movement work. The performers scramble up the rear wall, tumble over one another's backs and entwine limbs in combinations both grotesque and poetic as they turn the scholar's unholy deal into a dance of spiritual death."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...As the Devil, the charismatic Pasculli convincingly seduces Faust; Cortney McKenna, subtle yet affecting, is persuasive as Faust's victim. For me, all the tortured faces and acrobatic movement, more symbolic than dramatic, wore thin. But delicious homemade touches-puppetry, an onstage violinist, simple but evocative props, the performers' musical contributions-won me over."

Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended

"...Core of the Pudel does not tell a story, it meditates upon one. It's a thoughtful meditation that certainly has its charms, among them an appropriately seductive Mephistopholes."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...The work is subtitled Gutting the Legend of Faust, which tells me that this entertainment is a process. I can't tell you if Trap Door has arrived at anything yet, but they are having a helluva lot of fun cutting up Goethe's text as they examine the "core of the poodle," a German expression (Des Pudels Kern) which translates as "heart of the matter" (in Faust, the devil appears as a black poodle). Aided by Michael Christman's resourceful lighting and Danny Rockett and Cooper Forsman's wholly original sound design, this is the kind of theater which magically makes you think afterward about what it meant. The amazing players are Nigel Brown, Al Evangelista, Cooper Forsman, Cortney McKenna, Kendra Miller, Paul Scudder, Lauren Vogel and Katie Dingle."