"A visually dazzling, mind-pinching production…The integration of Mr. Barritt’s animation and the work of the cast is the show’s most singular and bewitching achievement…The characters are essentially cartoons themselves, though the cast injects them with flickers of pathos….'Golem' isn’t drawn in particularly subtle strokes. But its tart critique of a modern world increasingly homogenized has been imbued with such hallucinatory visual allure that your attention is held fast."
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"A wickedly ingenious satire on consumerism and conformism...Paul Barritt’s animated sequences brilliantly incorporate stop-motion, photomontage and dirtied-up computer graphics...Writer-director Suzanne Andrade’s script is witty, broad and fetchingly lyrical. The sheer technical achievement is rather mind-blowing, and the frisky, adorable performers endow their two-dimensional costars with three-dimensional weight (even humanity)."
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"Dizzily inventive and colorful...A sad-sack nobody acquires a golem...First it does his bidding, but then it takes him over, and the show becomes a heavy-handed metaphor for the pernicious rise of consumerism...The squeaky monotones of the five live actors were a deliberate contrast to the antic brilliance of the animated drawings...The piece feels long, and the music is a nattering background, but the variety and deployment of Barritt’s deceptively simple drawings are astonishing."
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"'Golem' meticulously combines five clown-like performers, booming narration, live music and film animation, leading to a wholly coordinated piece of theater that defies ordinary characterization, resembling a trippy art installation and an animated movie brought to life. It is told in a visual style that recalls both the European avant-garde movements of the early 20th century and claymation cartoons meant for children. It’s Fritz Lang’s 'Metropolis' meets 'Pee-wee’s Playhouse.'"
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"Ingenious and ultimately quite moving show...An eye-and ear-filling riff on 'Der Golem'...It reminded me in places of Elmer Rice’s 'The Adding Machine,' on the one hand, and Spike Jonez’s 'Her,' on the other. I suppose my quibble is that this 'Golem' is so charming—I mean the show as much as the creature—that the ontological tale gets pretty lost. And so the general takeaway—technology bad, punk-rock good—seemed kinda banal. Still, the show is a wonder, and here I am, still thinking about it."
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"Interaction between live actors, actors on screen, claymation and ‘drawn’ animation is skillfully and humorously coordinated offering endless surprise…In the guise of a fable, the eloquent Andrade has penned a sardonic morality tale ingeniously visualized by partner Barritt, played by an enlightened cast of clever cartoons, human and otherwise. Every thespian holds his/her weight in skilled mime, dialogue, and movement. A marvelously unique and entertaining evening of theater."
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"'Golem' is a very stylish piece, at once tongue-in-cheek and sober…They are seasoned actors, who often capture and freeze expression and gesture to emphasize a point, or to collaborate with the animation going on behind them…Like Chaplin, and that’s saying a lot, this troupe can tackle monumental subjects with infinitely detailed and satisfying gestures and phrases…'Golem' is a tour de force, delivered with grace and bemusement."
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"Beyond bringing this imaginary creature to life, the animation was mainly of use for secondary matters, almost like incidental music, bolstering transitional passages and scene-setting, although it was so imposing that everything else, including the score, was secondary. Members of the cast were perfectly coordinated but were too often reduced to narrative automatons serving the needs of Andrade's script, besides being perhaps straightjacketed by the production's intricate demands."
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