Washington Post
- Somewhat Recommended
"... Recall Robin Williams passing out at the sight of the teeming coffee aisle of a Manhattan supermarket in the 1984 movie “Moscow on the Hudson” and you will get a far richer image of communist refugee culture-shock than anything dramatized on the Woolly stage. To be sure, “You for Me for You” only reaches occasionally for that type of social comedy. All told, the play’s unwieldy shifts in tone, the director’s heavy hand and most crucially, the central characters’ underdevelopment, will leave some audience members wondering what ultimately this production has in mind."
WeLoveDC
- Recommended
"... Rarely does any show depict North Korea, let alone without jokes about the crazy Kim family or nuclear missiles. The people who struggle there, and who risk everything to flee, remain somewhat mysterious to most Americans. But they take center stage in the innovative and provocatively told You for Me for You at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company."
Talkin Broadway
- Somewhat Recommended
"... You for Me for You,the current production at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, is often cryptic and never really comes together, despite a few sharply focused moments. Playwright Mia Chung uses fantasy and dream logic in her story about two North Korean sisters trying to survive, but as a whole it remains unsatisfying and difficult to grasp."
Washington City Paper
- Highly Recommended
"... You for Me for You is a few sexy subway scenes short of going viral, but its dueling narrative threads are compelling and brilliantly staged, and the play certainly cozies up to the geopolitical zeitgeist."
Washingtonian
- Recommended
"... Director Yury Urnov creates a parallel universe on the revolving circular stage, employing moving structures and brilliantly haunting sound effects by Elisheba Ittoop to enhance the atmospherics. While Junhee escapes to the US and is confronted by a barrage of noise, neon clothing, aggressive advertising, and a large, kindly Texan (Matt Dewberry), Minjee stays with the Smuggler (also played by Jue), who attempts to open her eyes to the realities around her. Sometimes the traps that bind Minjee are physical, as when she appears to be crammed into small boxes on a vast scaffold—but mostly they’re mental. The tricky, untrustworthy Smuggler, a Charon guiding the sisters between different worlds, is the only conduit between Minjee’s state of suspended animation and the frantic pace of Junhee’s new existence."
MD Theatre Guide
- Highly Recommended
"... Let’s be clear: Woolly Mammoth’s world premiere production of Mia Chung’s You For Me For You takes you on a wildly imaginative feast of poetry in the guise of theatre. Stylistically perverse and narratively skewed, You For Me For You will visually delight you just as frequently as it will auditorally amuse you and logically leave you befuddled. By the end, you won’t know exactly where you’ve been, but you will have enjoyed the trip and be haunted by the memories."
DCTheatreScene
- Recommended
Chung has written an experimental play that blends the stark –admittedly imagined – realities of life in North Korea with a metaphysical look at barriers, and how one of the sisters acclimates herself to the West. It mostly succeeds.
DC Theater Arts
- Highly Recommended
"...Working well into their 33rd season entitled My Roots My Revolutions, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company presents the world premier of Mia Chung's You For Me For You. A gripping drama with comic heart that encompasses two Korean sisters trying to escape the starvation and chaos of a corrupt regime, and when one sister becomes too sick to make the journey the other vows to travel across time and space to secure their freedom. Directed by Yury Urnov in association with Ma-Yi Theater Company, this unique exploration tackles the internal perceptions of American life as viewed by those outside of it."
