Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...In particular here, Boeck offers a spectacularly intense performance, filled with doubt, regret, uncertainty, defiance and, at times, palpable panic. It's something to see but then so is this the entirety of this gripping reminder of urban American about 19 years ago - back when New York was still on a knife-edge, looking back, forwards, worrying about what might be around the next corner."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Once the complications of their shared past come to light—and their devastating effect on Eric—the final 15 minutes are indelible. One wonders why Keller didn't start the play much later and devote all 75 minutes to the stuff that matters."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...A paint-by-numbers script may have its shortcomings as literary exercise, but its very ambiguity renders it a virtuoso acting showcase. Under the direction of Wardell Julius Clark, the tag-team chemistry generated by Patrick Agada and Sam Boeck for this Jackalope Theatre production strives mightily-and ultimately successfully-to convince us that the growing dread and agonizing realization suffered by our two protagonists arises from a dynamic constructed on revelations manifesting themselves with the inevitability of tragedy."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...I’m being purposely vague on my story description. DUTCH MASTERS is a play to be experienced in the moment. Agada won’t let up until you know the whole story. And nod out to Scenic Designer Ryan Emens for powerful transformation of the set without the aid of an intermission."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Dutch Masters, Greg Keller's superbly taut two-hander receiving a gutsy Midwest premiere at Jackalope Theatre, is a play of mounting tension and slow reveals-the piece demands that the duo of performers balance an absurdist, punchy humor with a paranoid sense of unease, oftentimes juggling the two modes at the same time. As directed by Wardell Julius Clark, Patrick Agada and Sam Boeck more than succeed, scoring a veritable home run in 90 breathless minutes, delivering one of the most intense and provocative shows I've seen at the company's Broadway Armory venue."
Storefront Rebellion - Somewhat Recommended
"...Clark's physical staging is no less impressive; Ryan Emens's surprise-laden scenic design and Simean Carpenter's scene-setting lights are among the most awe-inducing I've recently seen on a storefront budget. Even Keller's metaphors are all in order, once he finally lays all his cards on the table. But in order to get to that point, the playwright has to lean on suspiciously schematic turns of events. Jackalope's production is great, its actors' performances are strong, and the broad idea of Keller's play is worthwhile. But the behavioral leaps the playwright needs his characters to make in order to get there feel as likely as an NYC subway commute with no delays."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Brilliant staging in combination with a powerhouse ensemble and a gut-wrenching story make Dutch Masters, in this writer's opinion, a must-see."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Masterfully led by established actor and rapidly rising directorial star Wardell Julius Clark, who gives space and silence to pain, allowing us the opportunity to sit with our discomfort, "Dutch Masters" is definitive Jackalope, the type of work written about in the reverent early chapters of a future biography alongside "Exit Strategy" and "Octagon." It is clear to anyone keeping tabs that the company is ascendant: their taste, bar none, their reputation, par excellence."
