Mr. Wolf Reviews
Los Angeles Times- Not Recommended
"...Emmes' production compounds the hesitancy in the writing. Tenney and Martinez are unable to make the awkwardly rendered meeting between Michael and Julie believable. They're playing words on a page - and often contrived words at that."
LA Weekly- Somewhat Recommended
"...As Theresa asks late in the play, when she sees a horse for the first time, how is it possible that some things are so big and she is so small? Whether audiences think Joseph's play is big or small might depend on how much they feel like engaging with the play after they've left the theater."
The Hollywood Reporter- Somewhat Recommended
"...Conflict between Julie and Hana over the family's changing dynamic requires greater development by the playwright, as does Hana's attempt to reunite with Michael through blackmail. Though Mr. Wolf is polished in its broad strokes, including concept, plot, mystery and especially James' accomplished performance, it remains hampered by underworked secondary and tertiary conflicts and characters."
LA Splash- Recommended
"...Although he briefly utilizes a tired cliché in the second act, Joseph's script still possesses a multilayered dimensionality, which matches the brilliance of the actors."
Stage Scene LA- Somewhat Recommended
"...Rajiv Joseph's takes a provocative look at the human consequences of a despicable crime twelve years after its perpetration in his hit-and-miss World Premiere drama Mr. Wolf, a play I found powerful and affecting in its more realistic moments but frustrating and perplexing in its attempts at the poetic and profound. In either case, performances alone make it worth a look-see."
Examiner- Somewhat Recommended
"...Unlike the hunt in "Bengal Tiger In The Bagdad Zoo", Joseph's Pulitzer Prize winning play, I found myself on the hunt for some rhyme and reason to be excited or enthralled with Joseph's setup after Mr. Wolf died. Surely a play about children's abductions couldn't be more relevant, but this is more a story about loss, tragedy, trauma, grief and coping but Joseph missed the boat by not giving us more of the one character who was the most intriguing, Mr. Wolf. I couldn't help but thinking what that would look like."
OC Register- Recommended
"...To say that "Mr. Wolf" exposes emotional trauma is to understate what Joseph has created. Tenney and Martinez bravely show how Michael and Julie have been through the wringer. Tenney's Michael is incredibly sad and angry but also pensive. Martinez's Julie is heartbreakingly fragile and also often frantic."
Cultural Weekly- Somewhat Recommended
"...And that may well be Joseph's intent. But isn't theatre the place where we are prepared to surrender to our deepest emotions? The place where we want to feel everything? Process everything? There is no catharsis here. This Mr. Wolf leaves us feeling more numb than moved - as if engaged in watching the solving of a complex equation rather than the unraveling of a dreadfully human drama, the outcome of which, once this child is found, has yet to play itself out."