Washington Post - Recommended
"...Director Eric Ruffin's crafty production is part of "Pas de Deux: Plays From New Zealand and Canada," which features a double bill of thematically linked one-acts running in Studio Theatre's Stage 4 space. In one of the funniest moments in "Tango," the two calculating romantic partners, James (Alex Mills) and Jim (Jon Hudson Odom), trade smug bits of pseudo-soul-baring. Both men look smashing in their matching tuxedos, with balletically regal posture, and the verse-refrain rhythm of their talk has comparable flair: "I'm very independent." "Me, too." "I savor my independence." "Me, too.""
DC Theater Arts - Recommended
"...The room is cold, and vapors swirl around the ducts that bring in air - has it been chilled? It smells like what came out of the defroster on my way into the city. Risers on three sides, a platform in the middle covered with Astroturf, an old bathtub on a corner of the platform, buckets hanging from the rafters. Not a space that helps you understand what's going to happen."
DCist - Somewhat Recommended
"...Jim and James emerge in identical tuxes bearing identical beaming grins. With grace and fluidity in every expression, they proceed to savage what we all know as the 21st century mating process, laying it out in all its self-sabotaging, neurotic glory"
WeLoveDC - Highly Recommended
"...2-2 Tango is fierce, funny, and heartfelt. Together with Skin Tight, Pas de Deux: Plays from New Zealand and Canada reminds us what love is and what it isn't, why so many couples don't make it, and how to appreciate the pain and pleasure of spending life with another person. Take that other person in your life, and see it."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...Like Janna and Don in The Personal(s), Tom and Elizabeth's relationship is not as it first seems. But in Skin Tight, precarious situations are faced with blunt humor and direct dialogue, rather than corny jokes and grimaces. With wry fondness, Tom and Elizabeth recall their first sexual experience. (He didn't know if he'd find the spot; she didn't think he would fit, until she saw it.) With anger, they remember how tough it was to fit their lives together when he returned from a war. Their marriage will survive separations, but not this hour-long play. And yet, the revelatory denouement is so beautifully rendered, you'll exit with unsentimental hope for love and long-term relationships."
BrightestYoungThings - Recommended
"...While both playwrights focus on a relationship, their respective plays include a third performer. The third actors mirror each other: an old man appears in Skin Tight, while a little boy peppers the action in 2-2 Tango. They're meant as focal points. We watch as the old man reflects on his past, and as the young boy looks to what might be his future. They reminds us how the principle characters in these plays are more like vessels of nostalgia: through their back and forth, even the messiest romances still have a way of helping us forget the ugly parts."
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...As a title, Pas de Deux, with its connotations of ballet and romantic refinement, might be a bit misleading. With Skin Tight by New Zealander Gary Henderson and 2-2 Tango by Canadian Daniel MacIivor, we definitely have dancing, but of the psycho-sexual variety. And we have lots of romance, both the longterm and enduring and the flash-in-the-pan-and-smash-that-watermelon-to-bits kind. But these two one-act theatrical dances are way too mosh-pit and brutal for a French sensibility, and their raw sensuality, lyricism and wit are sure to relieve even your most stress-filled day."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
If relationships can be traced in the landscape of two joined bodies, then the two plays in Pas De Deux explore those landscapes with an honesty that is both mesmerizing and, at times, disturbing to watch.