Plays Reviews

KISS THE SHADOW'Rapi elegantly explores the tensions between state and individual, between public and private actions and between freedom and responsibility. It’s dense, provocative and often very witty...'
Cherry Smyth, 2010

REASONS TO HIDE'All these three plays had strong political content, presented with great force. The first, Reasons to Hide, directed by Olivier Pierre, was framed by a choral opening and closure and had beautifully planned transitions from scene to scene and good ensemble playing from its cast...'
Howard Loxton, 2009

EDGEWISE'..written with honesty and raw emotion that compulsively draws you in'
Eleftherotypia national newspaper, Athens, Greece, 2003
'There's a very distinct and brilliantly unsettling world in both of these plays (Edgewise and Angelstate) - you bring the grotesque and the beautiful into a weird and often compelling collision. It's intelligent and conceptually sophisticated work.'
Esther Richardson, Royal Shakespeare Company, UK, 2000
'The play explores a very challenging idea and it's a refreshing and unusual read. The structure of the play is terrific and the twist really does have power.'
John Tiffany, Literary Director, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1997

ANGELSTATE'There's a very distinct and brilliantly unsettling world in both of these plays (Edgewise and Angelstate) - you bring the grotesque and beautiful into a weird and often compelling collision. It's intelligent and conceptually sophisticated work.'
Esther Richardson, Royal Shakespeare Company, UK, 2000

JOSIE'S RESTROOMS'Nipple Gripping'.
Time Out, 2000

DREAMHOUSE"The play unravels with the compulsive integrity of a Greek tragedy."
Cherry Smyth, City Limits, 1991
"...atmospheric and economical, highly commendable new work."
Helen Rose, Time Out 1991
"A meditation on the nature of reality and androgyny... where reality is what we construct for ourselves."
Sandra Freeman in the chapter on Nina Rapi in the book "Putting Your Daughters on the Stage" Cassell 1997

DANCE OF GUNS"...pertinent....excellently staged...really moving"
City Limits, 1992
 "...captures with eloquence the personal and cultural conflicts of a peace-loving nation..."
Time Out, 1992
 "The family is thus presented as the same oppressive force as it was in Ithaka but in a more direct, less symbolic way. The 'freedom' that Rosa finally achieves is limited, it is freedom in hiding... Dance of Guns is an interesting departure towards social realism with surreal elements."
Sandra Freeman in the chapter on Nina Rapi in the book 'Putting Your Daughters on the Stage', Cassell 1997

ITHAKA"...theatrically inventive, often surreal, witty and funny.."
David Hunter, Literary Manager, Bush Theatre, London 1990
 "...strong dialogue and strikingly effective scenes..."
Barbara Norden, Everywoman, 1991
 "It is this concept of transformative, progressive freedom that provides the key to Nina Rapi's first play Ithaka, a play that looks at the darker side of sexuality."
Lizbeth Goodman in the section on Nina Rapi in 'Who's Looking at Whom', Modern Drama Journal, Vol XXX1X, No.1, spring 1996

DANGEROUS OASIS"...inspirational...."
The Guardian, 1993
 "...sensitive...powerful...excellent..."
What's On, 1993

JOHNNY IS DEAD"A powerful and inspiring play in search of freedoms long forgotten."
Parikiaki Newspaper, London 1991
"Nina Rapi has succeeded in creating a female character, whose despair makes her oscillate between silent containment and manic behaviour. Hara's obsession with inventing her own reality is reminiscent of Alan Bennett's self-deceivers, and also some of Pirandello's female characters. Yet what is interesting in the play - and different form Bennet and Pirandello - is Hara's gradual awakening."
Margaret Rose in the chapter on Nina Rapi in the book Monologue Plays for Female Voices, Tirrenia Stampatori, Torino, Italy 1995