Tunnel Rat presented by Genesis Theatrical Productions at National Pastime Theater

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Based on a true story, this 2011 play by Australian writer Neil Cole has the ingredients for powerful theater, especially given Giles's belief that the Vietcong's cause was nobler than America's. But Cole's circular, undisciplined script touches on myriad familiar issues—the lack of a clear U.S. mission, the poor reception our soldiers got upon returning home—without developing them much beyond topic sentences. Brian LeTraunik's matter-of-fact direction for Genesis Theatrical Productions is at odds with the script's hallucinogenic fluidity."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"...Playwright Neil Cole's clinical approach to his topic is a welcome departure from the abstract emotionality too often adopted by civilian playwrights attempting vicarious replications of a singularly ill-documented war. The dramatic conceit of the aforementioned shrink and dead VC assuming the auxiliary roles in Giles' persistent recollections is kept from descending into precocity by the simplicity of Genesis Theatrical Productions' technical design and the unaffected tone imposed upon the text by Mark J. Shallow, Stefanie Johnson, and Joyce Hshieh under the direction of Brian LeTraunik. Although Andrew Dallas' score of incidental music occasionally slips into cliché—"For What It's Worth," again?—Cole's look back to traumas suffered nearly a half-century ago provides intriguing insights into what will soon almost certainly become a problem once again, in addition to serving as a sound-check on the freshly rehabbed stage in Uptown's Preston Bradley auditorium."

ChicagoCritic - Not Recommended

"...The show is filled with stilted flashbacks, stupid physicality (especially between Giles and Liran), and a long, ridiculous dance scene to the tune of a Sinatra song. One would think that a play titled “Tunnel Rat” would give more detail and dramatization as to what those brave soldiers had to endure in the tunnels instead of a poorly written psychological therapy session. Cole’s play is devoid of depth and the cast never reaches beyond the surface of the soldier’s trauma. What a wasted opportunity. Skip this one."