Hell Mouth Reviews
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
"...Jacobson knows that the domestic and the exalted do not occupy different rooms. Hell Mouth, now receiving a luminous production at The Road Theatre Company, opens on a son cleaning his dying father and pivots, in a single shift of light, to a Los Angeles argument about a possibly undiscovered Caravaggio. The pivot is not a contrast. It is Jacobson’s thesis. Grief and ambition move through the same scenes, press on the same characters, and resolve—or fail to—in the same breath. What matters turns on whether anything can be given in time."
Stage Scene LA- Not Recommended
"...There’s some fine work being done on the Road Theatre stage, but unless you’re an art connoisseur, you’re likely to find the company’s latest World Premiere, Tom Jacobson’s Hell Mouth, too intellectual and esoteric to rank among the prolific playwright’s best."
Stage Raw- Highly Recommended
"...In the eclectic, intricately-constructed theatrical confections of L.A.’s prolific playwright Tom Jacobson, the dialectics around salvation and damnation and the role of sacrifice are never far from the surface. Hell Mouth,in its world premiere from The Road Theatre Company, is no exception — though in approaching those themes it marks a distinct departure from dazzling structural virtuosity in favor of hard-hitting emotional straightforwardness."
Larchmont Buzz- Highly Recommended
"...Each actor must—and does—switch seamlessly between very different characters, adding a thrilling sense of the tightwire to their performances."