LA Splash - Recommended
"...J. Kent Inasy's scenic and light design lend just the right ambience to life in a bunker. Angela M. Eads' costume design and props designed by Todd Andrew Ball and Hisato Masuyama lend authenticity to the setting. The audience gets to experience living in the confines of this small space, now crowded with five people. Not to be outdone, William Hickman's fight choreography is excellent. Playwright Krieger pokes fun at many hallowed topics, including war, torture, and terrorism; and nothing seems to escape his notice. This play may not be for the faint of heart."
Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended
"...From the moment the lights go up on a mobile command center somewhere in the Iraqi desert where a hooded man finds himself strapped to a chair, a pair of jumper cables attached to his nuts by a military officer whose first words are "Whatsup, mothafucka?" you know you're no longer at your grandparents' Lonny Chapman Theatre as The Group Rep debuts Gus Krieger's outrageously dark, outrageously foul-mouthed, outrageously funny The Armadillo Necktie."
The Tolucan Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Directed with PULSATING PASSION by Drina Durazo, this is a powerful production! An impeccably well acted dark comedy written in 2011 by Gus Krieger, who refers to his script as a "jet black comedy." It is all of that-and more. At times a bit confusing, but eventually it all comes together."
NoHoArtsDistrict - Highly Recommended
"...The Armadillo Necktie, and I will leave the poetic explanation of this term for you to discover during the course of the play, is an absolutely brilliant piece of work. Unusual, vivid, unrelenting and incredibly human, the performances are strong and brave and mesmerizing. I was particularly in awe of Bert Emmett as The Colonel. What could have been a comic character was instead touching and gentle and funny and weird. He becomes heroic in fact, in an odd and unfamiliar way...just a wonderful layered performance."
Joe Straw #9 - Recommended
"...The Armadillo Necktie by Gus Krieger has to be seen to be believed. The writing is superb and the acting mesmerizing. Drina Durazo, the director, keeps the action moving at a wonderful pace."
Stage Raw - Not Recommended
"...If you crossed The Heart of Darkness with Alice in Wonderland, you might come up with something resembling Gus Krieger's strange play. The piece is a grab-bag of bizarre elements: there are two sword-fights, several chase scenes, threatened torture, two time-bombs, a Mexican stand-off and unreliable narrators. Also, the time seems literally out of joint, with several years passing in what seems to be a couple of days. In short, Krieger's play contains a bit of everything except a clear purpose."
Peoples World - Recommended
"...The Armadillo Necktie is a mashup of theatrical genres, beginning with grand guignol (torture by electrical current applied to a captive's testicles opens the show). The captive is Bruce Walker (Morgan Lauff), an unscrupulous mercenary whose loyalties are under suspicion. The action rapidly switches back and forth to farce, satire, slapstick, thriller, revery and dreamscape, and the theatre of ideas, with various weapons on display. Be prepared for sudden turn-on-a-dime reversals of fate as guns and swords are pulled and explosives are primed to go off. There's even an all-against-all "Mexican standoff" that, like other elements in the play, reflects the inability of forces either to advance or retreat. People can get stuck in this sun-struck time-warp for decades, centuries maybe. Afghanistan comes to mind."
