Dutchman Reviews

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...Keith Surney's spare but sharp staging for Trap Door, in which he plays Clay, divides Lula's role between three actors-Carolyn Benjamin, Genevieve Corkery, and Ali Foley, with Benjamin doing most of the initial heavy lifting at making us believe Clay would stay engaged in conversation with this oddly repellent but confident woman. (There's a 1966 film version available online starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr.) As Clay, Surney skillfully alternates between sunny bemusement and growing unease. And the casting conceit for the women gives us a chance to see that while the white people around someone like Clay may change, their motivations, underlying bigotry, and taste for destroying Black lives sadly stay the same."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...The Trap Door Theatre is a quintessential Chicago storefront theatre - it's housed in a converted garage, accessed through a narrow walkway, almost invisible from the street - that has built its reputation on offbeat, experimental productions. Their previous production was the divisive Ghost Fetus, and at least to me, "divisive" is a good thing in the context of experimental theatre; you're not really pushing boundaries if you're making everyone happy. All this to say I was slightly surprised that they chose to follow that with a new production of Amir Baraka's 1964 political allegory Dutchman."

Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...While the narrative brings up interesting questions regarding Clay's sense of self and his relationship to the (white) world, the playwright unfortunately undercuts his own narrative when the tale descends into misogyny and absurdity."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Amiri Baraka's Dutchman remains one of the most incisive allegories in American drama-a modern tale in which seduction, power, and racial history collide in the confined space of a subway car. Trap Door Theatre's production, directed with precision and calculated risk by Keith Surney, resurrects the play's mythic and political undercurrents, deepening its resonance as both ritual and warning."

Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended

"...Amiri Baraka was still LeRoi Jones when he wrote Dutchman in 1964. The play, now being staged by Trap Door Theatre, is an early dialogue on race, class and power. Keith Surney directs and stars in the two-character play (more on that later), which takes place on a New York City subway train on a steamy afternoon. Dutchman is exciting, political, racist and not for children or the faint of heart."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...The production's saving grace is the sharp, stage-grabbing portrayal of Lula #1 by Carolyn Benjamin, who gives a much-needed note of lightness and playfulness to a ham-handed script. Benjamin's slyly expressive face, darting energy and crisp timing soften to some extent the unremitting hostility and contempt that the playwright aims not just at white women, but also Jews, homosexuals and, one begins to suspect, himself."