Radio Culture

“Smith’s controlled performance is often mesmerizing. He’s capable of projecting great distress with the smallest gestures and expressions. And despite the grim surroundings [...], Smith also animates small moments of joy and humor with equal skill.”

“Smith’s portrayal of this everyman isn’t flashy but is affecting, especially in the way that he intentionally makes eye contact with audience members while telling Volodya’s story.”

“Smith is focused and energized. He makes Volodya’s despaired fatigue authentic without dragging us down. Meanwhile, he channels Volodya’s most mundane observations and his most private dramas with a flood of life.”

“Brilliantly performed. Smith, pale, rail thin, and bristlingly smart, does an astonishing job of capturing his character’s alternately agitated, depressed, sanguine, angry, intense, and painfully resigned (yet hope-against-hope) state of mind. This is a tour de force performance of the most impeccable subtlety, marked by a display of deep understanding and meticulous control.”

“Smith is still and calm as Volodya, and seems to have his eyes on everyone, including the workmen on his site, and the Chicagoans fidgeting in their seats. He is purposeful and serious, exhibiting the precise judgments he levies on the people who are not there—and you can’t help but wonder what he must think of you.”

“[Kevin V. Smith] is breathtaking [...] you [won’t] be able to take your eyes off [him]. He always reveals layers beyond the words — it’s in the tone of voice, the way he uses a pause, a hesitation, the face, the body posture. Between the direction and the acting, there’s just a flood of emotion underneath.”