The Receptionist


What the press had to say.....

"Mr. Bock, a playwright on the rise whose comedy 'The Thugs,' also set in an office, was a critical hit last year, establishes the humdrumminess of the 9-to-5 life with a gimlet eye for detail that can come only from experience. Clearly he�s done some desk time himself, and has harvested from those dreary hours a sly gift for translating the dross of small talk into subtle, quietly quirky comedy....it is Ms. Houdyshell�s adorable, efficient Beverly who keeps us engaged."
Charles Isherwood
New York Times

"Joe Mantello's seamless staging and the flawless cast make Bock's tale a tart "Twilight Zone" episode for today's paranoid times. Somewhere, Rod Serling is smiling."
Joe Dziemianowicz
New York Daily News

"Runs just a little more than an hour, but it still feels extended. While its theme of underlying terror is provocative, it plays like ersatz Pinter, minus that master dramatist's gift for truly memorable characters and dialogue that's alternately rudely hilarious and disturbing."
Frank Scheck
New York Post

"Unlike the political twists that shock us to our senses in late dramas by Harold Pinter, this one turns into a generic nightmare after setting us up with smart layers of specificities...The play, which lasts a little more than an hour, feels curt and oddly stingy."
Linda Winer
NewsDay

"Slender as it is, "The Receptionist" gets under your skin. Under Joe Mantello's able direction, its poison creeps slowly into your veins and lingers, with no catharsis in sight."
Joy Goodwin
New York Sun

"Despite being well staged, the twists are too familiar to resonate."
Mark Blankenship
Variety

Originally published on

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