“Arresting and conceptually audacious"
"A revealing mashup of the present, past in ‘An Octoroon’"
“If you see “An Octoroon,’’ you’re likely to find that it stays with you.”
"Piles Up Layers Of Lampoonery Like Provocative Face Paint"
"Discomfitingly hilarious"
"In this circus of race and identity grappling toward an ever-elusive resolution, that riddle is harder to scratch away at than the face paint."
“Raucous and riling”
“Comes with a punch, and a punchline”
"A playwright that garners much well-deserved discussion."
"A layered and multi-faceted work"
"Thought-provoking"
"An important voice of his generation of playwrights"
"An Octoroon is smart, sassy, devastating "play within a play" making."
"DON'T MISS THIS ONE by Company ONE!"
"Company One’s actors are top notch"
"Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ gutsy script"
"Not like anything else you’re likely to see this year."
"Branden Jacobs-Jenkins...has succeeded rather brilliantly"
"Alternately hilarious and insightful"
"It is really effective in a very dark way"
"Imaginative, riveting theater, and should be seen by anyone who likes their comedy a little more challenging."
“It’s a vaudevillian ride through antebellum Louisiana about forbidden love, slavery, and white guilt.”
“The performances by the cast are very good. Almost too good because there is no denying the visceral experience of anger and pain they trigger. The script is funny and terrifyingly thoughtful. [An] Octoroon is a lot to take in.”
“Please understand, it is our privilege to be offended by such a powerful production”
“Go see An Octoroon. Feel offended, learn something new, and help make the world better for everyone.”
“An Octoroon manages to weave its multiple, diverse threads into an inspired performance piece.”
“There is always the lingering question of whether or not we should be laughing”
“In its collaboration with ArtsEmerson, Company One proves that it is not only important to program provocative theater, it is important to do it well. An Octoroon walks the walk.”
“One of Jacobs-Jenkins' great achievements in An Octoroon is his ability to make us feel that we are simultaneously experiencing a theatrical event from 150 years in the past and something that is strikingly relevant for today.”
“When a playwright like Branden Jacobs-Jenkins comes along, it’s wise to keep an eye on him.”
“Jacobs-Jenkins has rather brilliantly co-opted an 1859 melodrama called “The Octoroon” and re-framed it, rewritten it, and reclaimed it for himself and modern audiences.”
“An Octoroon,” you see, is all about race in these United States, as it was and is and unfortunately probably shall be for a considerable time.”
“Yet in its current incarnation, “An Octoroon” feels even richer and more resonant than it did before, both funnier and more profoundly tragic.”
“BJJ’s acknowledgement that our national legacy of slavery still hangs over his own head does give him the motivation to write his show.”
“…subversively funny alternative version of Dion Boucicault’s 1859 melodrama about forbidden love in the Antebellum South...”
“At its wickedest (and best), An Octoroon can make you gasp—perhaps in shock at something funny or cruel, or in delight at the naughty, secret-filled set.”
“An Octoroon stages its author's dizzying dialogue with Boucicault's original as it unfolds, occasionally satirizing the older drama and sometimes re-authoring it.” “Jacobs-Jenkins reminds us that all this role-playing exposes underlying racial realities.”
“...the show’s constant surprises are bracing.”
“Now this is how you adapt a play.”
#AnOctoroon
#AnOctoroon
