The Tolucan Times - Highly Recommended
"...Jeff Gould's The Marriage Zone is an excellent example of fusing drama and comedy together with relevant and entertaining results."
Will Call - Somewhat Recommended
"...The bickering Pride and Ashton convincingly portray a long married –but not always blissfully – husband and wife. Donafee is funny and likable as the enamored stud. The perky Barker with a Body by Barbie, has him, as well as the audience, enthralled. Young Louis doesn't have many lines but is a natural. Hyde-White is perfect as a man approaching senior citizenship who's more honest than polite, a little grumpy but always funny. The bespectacled Jule almost steals the show with her poker-faced cynical remarks and wry humor. Jeff Gould, who has had considerable success writing good humored farce (his play It's Just Sex, is performed around the globe), has come up with a truly unique idea, a world premiere audience pleaser that has just been extended.
NoHoArtsDistrict - Highly Recommended
"...The cast is superb, absolutely brilliant, and they all work so effortlessly together to weave this complex and unusual tale. The writer is also the director, which is not always the most perfect arrangement. But I really couldn't fault the play at all, so I guess it worked out pretty well in this case!"
The Stage Struck Review - Not Recommended
"...If "The Marriage Zone" was fall-down funny, one could forgive the lack of depth. If its dialogue was engrossing on the subject of time-bending revelation, it might excuse the fact people spend so very much of the play sitting in chairs talking. But since, in its best moments, this play falls with rather a thud somewhere in between these goals, it leaves much to be desired. On the other hand, a good workshop of this thing, with input and polish applied after significant feedback, could turn it into something one would truly wish to see."
Theatre Spoken Here - Recommended
"...Actually, with this excellent cast, it's a sweetly told story of a marriage that is starting to unravel. Beth (Anne Leighton) cannot stop picking on her husband Cal (Jeff Pride); he has sunk into a sardonic attitude that blocks her out, while their son Ryan (Ciaran Brown) has his ears plugged into a world of music. It's a familiar domestic comedy until visitors arrive: Skip and Ellie (Ryan Cargill and Megan Barker), young and in love, can't keep their hands off each other; Mike and Liz (Alex Hyde-White and Jacee Jule), cynical, divorced and full of regrets. We recognize these people because we are these people."
Santa Monica Daily Press - Highly Recommended
"...And so it goes. All seven actors play it straight, and under the superb direction of the playwright, Jeff Gould, they produce a wonderful, suspenseful comedy that everyone can enjoy. No matter your age or marital stage, "The Marriage Zone" is the play to see."
Stage Raw - Highly Recommended
"...Gould's writing is crisp, glib and playful, and his production engagingly explores the wacky idea that these three couples are the same people at different points in their lives. Admittedly, this isn't a piece with much narrative heft; moreover, the issues it raises are efficiently resolved. Nor are the older characters anxious to detail the horrors of growing old: The focus is mostly on the younger people, who have energy and power, rather than the older, wiser folks, who are portrayed as glum in a manner that borders on cliche. (Why does everyone old have to turn into a wisecracking Alter Kocher?)"
Accessibly Live Off-Line - Recommended
"...This one act play, written and directed by Jeff Gould, is very witty. The barbs and gags has its comic appeal where a simple situation takes upon many ironic twists without losing any of its humor. For its eighty minute running time, one will become highly amused that speak upon the notions that marriages starts off on its good foot, leading to a number of stubbed toes along the way, and finally setting its pace on either having the marriage stand on its own two feet, or to have its feet stepped on, if not being tripped over!"
