Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...This can be a tricky piece to pull off - the wit and the horror need to find their balance lest our laughter at the clown who would be king masks the threat he poses. For the most part, Quezada-Perez and the cast achieve that balance through pacing that is energetic without being frenetic. This "Arturo Ui" registers as both farce and tragedy, highlighting moments that scratch at the door of our collective conscience, warning us of the rough beast lying in wait outside. Or is he already in the house?"
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...And this Trap Door production is visually and aurally stunning, with a large cast-most playing multiple roles, all in pancake makeup and clown noses-that's uniformly excellent. Each is constantly sniffing loudly through those red snouts as if to drive home the all-encompassing stench of their fictive Chicago. They're only able to breathe easily through their own nostrils after being gunned down, as if freed from a lifetime of holding their noses to get through the days."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Quezada-Perez's area of expertise lies in European Clown technique, and sure enough this production boasts red noses, white faces, and pratfalls all around. The exaggerated comedic style pairs well with Brecht's, let's just say, likewise exaggerated rhetoric. It's history that doesn't need to be repeated to become farcical. It can be both tragedy and farce all at once. And when the play's final line--"The bitch that bore him is once again in heat"-rings out over the darkening house, it leaves you wondering whether we can survive another clown like this again."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...While this may actually be Director Quezada-Perez’s point in his staging of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and while it is a point well worth timely meditation, it might well have found a less obstructive expression, as it seemed to me to fight against the drama of the play. Fans of Trap Door (of which I count myself one), may find this production in line with their previous offerings: it is sophisticated, and it is quirky. But the quirkiness plays out as a two-hour long joke, and the punch line, though sophisticated and somewhat satisfying, comes only too late."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Though Brecht meant for the play to educate Americans about the circumstances which can produce a tyrant, the play is no dry history lesson. Quezada-Perez’s background in clowning has provided him with the means to devise a movement vocabulary for his actors which dovetails perfectly with George Tabori and Alistair Beaton’s stylized translation."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Chicago gangsters fight over the ownership and expansion of the cauliflower trust into Cicero. You may think that sounds like a farce, but The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a vehicle for Bertolt Brecht and Trap Door Theatre to satirize the rise of a fascist dictator in the 1930s....and perhaps today."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...As usual with Trap Door, the cast is a tight ensemble. The story is the engine and they’re all here to tell it and engage us in it. Similarly, director Victor Quezada-Perez has a light touch here. In spite of the overt style filling the space, his work fades to the background, quietly pushing the story forward and allowing the clowns to do their job. Quezada-Perez’s power surfaces in the rituals, which reinforce the surreal terror of red nose clowns: they’re only a step removed from the rest of us."
