Gangsta Baby Reviews

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Adroitly directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, this U.S. premiere gives us no place to look away as the harsh violence enacted by Josh Odor's Senior takes its toll on Raasdal-Munro's Junior (who makes his living as a sex worker) and Junior's trans stepbrother, Pete (a splendid Jensen Knudsen). Junior's client, Mitch (Bryan Nicholas Carter), engages in role-play with Junior. Both suffered under the thumb of school bullies (Junior in part because of his dyslexia, which Pete tries to help him overcome)."

Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...Appropriately, director Rikki Beadle-Blair directs with a taut, cinematic glow. It is very hard to make a visceral crime drama sing on stage, but Beadle-Blair succeeds in making all the intense action pieces within the play radiate with a real-life poignancy. Utilizing his own past, playwright Raasdal-Munro also creates with a true-to-life intimacy. His knowledge of society's underbelly rings forth here with compassion and understanding. He also intuitively, works moments of true humor and athletic sensuality into the mix, giving audiences a moment to breath and enjoy themselves despite the destruction that often unfolds with spiraling acuteness in Open Space's incredibly intimate, 30 seat space."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...Open Space Arts has brought Gangsta Baby from London to Chicago with its lead actor and writer, Cameron Raasdal-Munro, and director Rikki Beadle-Blair (MBE) in tow. The play follows Junior, a gay sex worker living in a squalid flat in a working-class city in Hastings, UK. It opens with an encounter between Junior and one of his clients, Mitch, an upwardly mobile black man who uses sex workers to reenact the humiliations of his school years, when, as a day student at a public school, he was mercilessly bullied by his wealthy classmates. Things go awry when this session is crashed by Junior’s father, a gangster fallen on rough times."

Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...“Gangsta Baby”, written by Cameron Raasdal-Munro and skillfully directed by Rikki Beadle-Blair, is in its first U.S. world premiere, having played previously at the Hope Theatre, in London. The story centers on an abusive relationship between a working-class father and son, where Raasdal-Munro plays the lead in the character of Junior, a queer sex worker who has been making his own living in the working-class city of Hastings."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...GANSTA BABY is a real surprise. It's potent and powerful, a violent and almost barbaric story about sex, identity and daddy issues. It features excellent performances by four brilliant actors that are layered, honest and filled with fire and passion. This new British play will no doubt introduce Chicago audiences to a world they've never known. But Open Space Arts' production of Cameron Raasdal-Munro's American premiere is a theatrical experience they won't soon forget."

NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...For better or worse, the play sticks with you. Raasdal-Munro is a passionate artist who performs like a steam engine at full flame. The dialectics on political and social concerns are cogent and thought-provoking. Carter and Knudsen both play multiple roles and make each one feel fleshed out and unique. Allusions to Marlowe and Shakespeare pepper the script in some of the play’s best moments of dialogue. “Gangsta Baby” is a brave, explosive work that embodies the pain and frustration of the contemporary zeitgeist and is a surefire delight for thrill-seeking audiences."