Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"..."Ironbound," a 2014 play receiving a wonderfully acted Chicago premiere at Raven Theater after a planned Steep production fell victim to a certain worldwide pandemic, represented Majok's breakthrough. And if you haven't yet encountered her work - "Sanctuary City" was produced at Steppenwolf a year ago, and her Pulitzer-winning "Cost of Living" played Broadway a year before that - you are in for a great example of her ruggedly unsentimental, class-conscious worldview combined with craft that digs relentlessly deeper into human motivations."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Carapetyan, who was going to play this role at Steep Theatre in 2020 before the pandemic shutdown, always excels at embodying women who are tough and defiant without ever losing their vulnerability. Darja recalls a friend who lost an arm in an accident at the factory and muses that it happened because "she was thinking of being not here." Ironbound, like Majok's Sanctuary City (seen at Steppenwolf last season), roots working-class immigrant narratives in rich and poignant moments in time where people dream of being "not here" while also dealing with grim reality as well as they can."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Raven Theatre's production of Martyna Majok's Ironbound directed by Georgette Verdin is a brilliantly patient drama supported by a stellar cast and a detail-oriented creative team."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...The promise of living the American Dream seldom becomes reality for many, especially idealistic immigrants arriving here with the hopes of a better life. But somehow, despite being knocked down over and over again, those with moxie and determination do survive. Polish-born playwright Martyna Majok's drama is laced with enough dry, unexpected humor to keep Darja's story from being a total downer."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...Darja is an all-American woman. She may be a Polish immigrant, escaping the wars and politics of her native land. But she has all the problems of her born-in-the-USA sisters. She loses her job—her main job as a factory worker, which she supplements by cleaning houses. She worries about her son, whether he’s a teenager or a young adult. She knows her partner has been cheating on her with other women. And she absolutely wants a car so she won’t have to wait for the bus—at a desolate roadside bus stop somewhere in New Jersey."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...Raven Theatre's Ironbound, the Chicago premiere of Polish-born playwright Martyna Majok's examination of the difficult life of a working-class immigrant woman, may be a downer of a story, but it turns out to be a near tour-de-force for its star, Lucy Carapetyan. Carapetyan plays Darja, a Polish woman now living in New Jersey, who is trying to deal with the choices she has made and the bad cards she has been dealt, which include an abusive second husband, an estranged, drug-addicted adult son, the loss of a dead-end factory job, and a current relationship with a man who flagrantly cheats on her with a wealthy woman whose house she cleans."
NewCity Chicago
- Recommended
"...The small cast is excellent. With the help of dialect coach Elise Kauzlaric and Polish language consultant Julie Jachym, both Santana and Carapetyan use credible Polish accents and occasional Polish dialogue. Santana’s performance highlights Maks’ strength—he’s a dreamer but not an idler. He’s practical, but also loves music and finer things in life."
