“[Jacqmin’s work] touches on group dynamics, professional ethics, upper-middle-class anxiety, the human desire for connection and, I suspect, the disappointments of the Obama administration. If it sounds as though I’m projecting too much onto [it], you haven’t seen how clever and nuanced her chosen metaphor proves … The ability of this skilled young playwright to find moments of humanity in a seemingly sterile environment will give you plenty to chew on.” – TimeOut Chicago
“A writer with a skilled touch and a fine observer’s eye for human behavior.” – Chicago Tribune
“Jacqmin has a gift for barbed, realistic, character-defining and plot-enhancing dialogue.” – Chicago Theater Beat
“[Jacqmin’s] deftly structured dialogue provokes laughter not only with funny, oddball ideas but with a sly use of rhythm.” – Chicago Reader
“Raw and intimate, [Jacqmin’s play] does everything right.” – 89.3 WFPL
“Tough, wonderful.” – New City Chicago
“Tight and illuminating.” – Louisville Courier-Journal
“Whip smart, crackerjack dialogue, crafted with humor, pain and precision by playwright Laura Jacqmin leaves you wanting more. I wouldn’t have left my seat to use the restroom if my very life depended on it.” – EDGE Chicago
“Crackling drama with hearts, smart and a whole lot of barbed humor.” – Pioneer Press
“[Jacqmin’s play] pulls out the microscope, to examine small-bore lives with compassion and detail. … There’s not a false moment in this drama. … It’s a testament to the depth of feeling in her writing — and the sensitive direction of Hal Brooks — that the play drew exceptionally good performances.” – New York Times
“Challenges our values in a funny and often bizarrely frightening way.” – Middletown Press
“So layered and complex, so modern and relatable, and packed with a cornucopia of emotional experience.” – EDGE Chicago
“Fun and sweet and painful and thrilling all at once.” – Chicago Theater Beat
“I love Jacqmin’s writing. [Filled with] unsentimental wit, verbal precision, [and a] willingness to engage ambiguity.” – Chicago Reader
“Surprisingly funny – yet still emotionally devastating.” – Chicago Stage Standard
“A young writer with a strong vision [and] a powerful sense of metaphor.” – Chicago Tribune
“Madcap [and] ambitious.” – New City Chicago
“An invigorating and savvy voice in the American theatre.” – Santa Barbara Independent
“Detail is something Jacqmin and her characters have an exquisite grasp on.”- TimeOut Chicago
Press for Ride or Die:
“Sweet and zippy… Executed by Waddingham with such ferocity that it left me wishing for her to get her own John Wick riff. … Propelled by the powerfully likable chemistry between Waddingham and Octavia Spencer (as Judith’s best friend Debbie), Ride or Die is a lively excursion with a surprisingly sweet heart. … Both stars are terrific. – The Hollywood Reporter
“Delightfully ludicrous… So much fun. Everything depends on Waddingham and Spencer’s chemistry and it is a thing of beauty. … It is a mark of Ride or Die’s success that you don’t realize until it’s over how unusual it is. Two fiftysomething actors playing fiftysomething parts that allow them to be funny, dramatic action heroes? That uses their ages not as a punchline but as a tool to torque the storyline and elevate the daft caper to a light commentary on women’s midlife state? Debbie and Judith find the world turning against them, assuming inadequacies, dismissing all evidence to the contrary, forcing invisibility. It will resonate with anyone slapping on the HRT patches and habitually wondering who, in the pantheon of people that deserve it, to kill next. The only real difference between us and Judith is that we are not skilled enough to follow through. … The perimenopausal comedy thriller caper of your dreams. ****” – The Guardian
“Hannah Waddingham is in full 007 mode as the glammest hitwoman in town. ****” – The Daily Telegraph
“Refreshing … Waddingham and Spencer are so distractingly funny and charming that a viewer goes along for the ride.” – Wall Street Journal
“Waddingham holds guilt, hope, and tenderness with contrasting ruthlessness. Spencer shimmers with swallowed rage, devastation, and unearned confidence. More than anything, their chemistry is the catalyst for the show, which sparks like a Roman candle. … Finding out your best friend is a killer for hire is the perfect excuse for an extended girl trip. … Hard to resist, so don’t. Give in to Ride or Die and get your fake passport stamped with heists, second chances, and a friendship that never says die.” – RogerEbert.com
“Spencer and Waddingham have a robust and genuine chemistry … Moreover, watching Waddingham as a full-fledged action star is something everyone should be witnessing on a daily basis. … It’s the deep confidence and love the pair have in one another that may very well save them.” – Variety
“Waddingham is such a joy to watch and Spencer creates an ideal, idiosyncratic, Type-A foil. In a just world, they’d be on our screens every week, bopping around Europe and bumping off bad guys.” – IndieWire
“Waddingham … is a sort of fantastical creature, appearing from scene to scene on a sliding scale from glamorous to extremely glamorous. She is also an especially convincing action hero. But Debbie will inevitably come into her own in that respect — this isn’t the first story in which the path to self-discovery runs through a field strewn with bodies.” – Los Angeles Times
“Delivers on both action thrills and heartwarming friendship. … Waddingham and Spencer are a winning combination. … Sticks the landing. An exhilarating ride.” – Collider
“An action-packed joyride, delivering a story that’s as thrilling as it is heartfelt.” – ScreenRant
“In a world too cowardly to give us Hannah Waddingham as 007, Prime Video’s Ride or Die is the next best thing. … Ride Or Die has all the trappings of a conventional espionage story — charming and promiscuous spies, a lot of silly rules, some plot holes, shocking survivals, etc. — but it also never shies away from bending the genre or forming its own identity. Better still, the show never once forgets that it’s about women. … Waddingham comes across as both wickedly competent and extremely hot. Equally important: the series treats Debbie the same way. Throughout Ride or Die, she too is depicted as capable of desire and worthy of being desired. … A friendship worth killing for.” – AV Club