Los Angeles Times - Highly Recommended
"...Chief among the many reasons to recommend the new revival of María Irene Fornés' "Fefu and Her Friends" at the Odyssey Theatre is the rarity of the opportunity. Good productions don't come around all that often of this masterwork by the Cuban-born American playwright who died last year."
Broadway World - Somewhat Recommended
"...FEFU AND HER FRIENDS, a surreal dramedy by Maria Irene Fornés, known as an early feminist giant of the avant-garde, challenges modern audiences in that the play is plotless except for the fact eight women with very different agendas, personalities, and sexual orientations have gathered in the country home of their eccentric friend, Fefu, to plan an event for their do-gooding educational work. As multiple conflicts unfold between the old friends, they struggle to define who they are and what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated world."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Fefu and Her Friends is one of the most famous plays by the recently deceased feminist avant-garde playwright María Irene Fornés, a Cuban American who has won nine Obie Awards including the award for sustained achievement. After seeing this production directed by Denise Blasor, I understand why. Fornés brilliantly captures the time period using music, art, politics, wardrobe and dialogue."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...Director Denise Blasor says it all: "This is a play about female empowerment and about all aspects of femininity." Set in 1935 in New England, FEFU AND HER FRIENDS has been described as plotless, and - in fact - concentrates on personalities and character studies rather than events. Fornes wrote the play in 1977 about women in 1935 - and it is currently being staged in 2019. Despite changing cultural viewpoints over the years, FEFU AND HER FRIENDS remains an involving slice of eight women's lives from noon to the evening of one day."
Hollywood Progressive - Somewhat Recommended
"...With its cast of eight, Fefu is well-acted and not without humor - although it is more of the ironic, sardonic sort than the laugh-out-loud brand found in most comedies. The play definitely has a surreal vibe, sort of like a Luis Bunuel movie set on the stage - that is, if Bunuel was female. This is theater for thinkers, for more adventurous theatergoers with a taste for originality and the absurd, concerned with subjects such as feminist theory, sexism, lesbianism, patriarchy - and trekking. Bring your thinking caps - and New Balance walking shoes."
Theatre Spoken Here - Recommended
"...FEFU & HER FRIENDS (West Los Angeles)
Playwright Maria Irene Fornes is hailed as "the early feminist giant of the avant-garde" and this 1977 drama, still relevant today, shows her at her most fascinating and provocative. Fefu is the eccentric hostess when seven of her friends arrive for a women's do-gooder event. At first what seems to be a drawing-room comedy, soon darkens into an exploration of the tremors that beset women regarding their relationships with male dominance and female powerlessness. All the actresses superbly embrace the quixotic demands of the script."
Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Denise Blasor finds the play in fits and starts. The production is at its best during its more up-close, intimate moments. Little of the play's humor is extracted from the text and so much of the action seems heavy and dramatic - the lighter, more frivolous elements are lost. Intentionally heightened moments (particularly later in the play) lose their poignancy."
Theatre Notes - Recommended
"...Fefu and Her Friends is regarded as a feminist play, which it certainly is. Aspects of the eternal female situation are on full display. The terrific cast is passionate in their playing whether delightfully funny, terrifying, or affecting. The characters as written, however, are thinly drawn. The playwright was after something else."
