‘Van Hove’s adaptation is theatrically spectacular and beautifully performed.’ The Australian

‘Opening Night is very much festival fare, offering a great opportunity for local audiences to see a pro-duction with international scale and scope.’ Age

‘Opening Night is an exiting piece with a subplot of magic realism, good characterization, especially the leads, plenty going on at all times along with superb acting .’ InPress Magazine

‘Die furiose Inszenierung von  Ivo van Hove verschmilzt Bühnenaktion und Live-Video auf so kluge, gelungene Weise, wie man es selten sieht. Und die briljanten Schauspieler machen die Backstage-Tragikomödie nach einem Film von John Cassavestes zum Theaterfest.’ AZ

‘A natural Cassavetes Woman, Theatricalized, Magnified and Multiplied.(…) I have never seen Mr. van Hove – who has taken stylized wrecking balls to a host of classic plays – make more purposeful or appropriate use of his anarchic skills. His subject, you see, is the porousness of the identities of those who act in and live by the theater.’ New York Times

‘Talent and a great deal of courage; this is what it took to adapt Cassavetes’ script for the stage. (...) Ivo van Hove makes expert use of cinematic techniques to give his mise-en-scene more depth. (...) Ivo van Hove can easily withstand the comparison with Cassavetes. They both possess a certain sen-sitivity, which they portray in very different ways.’ Le monde

‘What does this anxious and neurotic play, in which people annoy, hit, love and hate each other amidst a confusion of gestures, whispering and moaning, actually add to Cassavetes’ masterwork? Nothing. You couldn’t compare them even if you wanted to, which I certainly don’t.’ Telerama