Motherstruck! STUDIO THEATRE DC
“Motherstruck is an astonishing work... a realistic, funny, and unique vision of one woman's journey to happiness..”
THEATREMANIA
"...charming, powerful, and vivacious to match... a remarkable story and a remarkable show."
DC THEATRE SCENE
"With brilliant audio choices and timing, perfect audience interaction, and clear blocking...a great piece of theatre"
BROADWAY WORLD
"Some serious synergy had to have gone on between Chin and Director Matt Torney. There’s not a cue that doesn’t work, a line that doesn’t land...It flips the finger not only at mainstream social conventions but also at commercial theater’s constraints on what women playwrights can and can’t say."
DC METRO THEATRE ARTS
Hedda Gabler STUDIO THEATRE DC
"induces a type of awe-struck response akin to the most intense thunder and lightning show. Studio has presented another facet, to perhaps, one of the theaters most multifaceted characters"
BROADWAY WORLD
"Dionysus takes a woman’s form and sets the stage ablaze."
DC METRO THEATRE ARTS
"...the kind of spectacle from which it’s mostly impossible to look away."
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
The Walworth Farce STUDIO THEATRE DC
“Irish Director Matt Torney has crossed the pond to storm the beach like a one man marine assault, and he takes no prisoners with this production. His deft handling and deep understanding of the roots of this voice of New Ireland captures both the sardonic humor underneath the farce structure and the savagery…The acting is astonishing.”
DC THEATRE SCENE
“From the instant the lights come up on Studio Theatre’s production of “The Walworth Farce,” the theatrics are at a rolling boil…Matt Torney’s production is expertly grubby…a vigorous show, a full-on immersion into a warped and delusional world.”
WASHINGTON POST
“Dizzying, bravura theater that will leave you with a knot in your stomach…It’s hard to remember a time I was so convinced, so transported, so completely enmeshed in the hyper-reality that was playing before me…The Walworth Farce is a stunning achievement.”
BRIGHTEST YOUNG THINGS
Tiny Dynamite ORIGIN THEATRE COMPANY
“Bruising and intense, blending humor with melancholy…The director Matt Torney redraws the newly formed triangle with elegant focus.”
NEW YORK TIMES
“Fiercely committed, finely etched performances…Terrific..”
BACKSTAGE
“Strong Theatricality…A brilliant setting for Abi Morgan’s taut shimmering play…It’s a powerful Force. Matt Torney’s innovations serve the play and his pacing is outstanding.”
IRISH EXAMINER
Digging for Fire ROUGH MAGIC THEATRE COMPANY
“This is a fine and absorbing revival, one that might stimulate more enquiries into the “standard State of the Nation stuff”. We’re In a hole again; keep digging” (4 Stars)
THE IRISH TIMES
“Torney gives the audience a finer awareness that this production, and this historical moment, is something we experienced collectively…an inspired production”
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE
“…supported by Matt Torney’s solid direction. The writing is particularly strong…an hilarious, brutally honest and insightful depiction of cultured-ish Dublin.” (4 Stars)
ENTERTAINMENT.IE
“The production is ably directed by Matt Torney…Crass and funny, melancholic and raucous, the play feels fresh”
EXEXUNT MAGAZINE
Stop the Tempo ORIGIN THEATRE
“Both Carbinariu’s text and Matt Torney’s direction have style to burn.”
NYTHEATRE.COM
“Ireland’s most iconoclastic young Irish theater director Matt Torney is a perfect fit to direct Stop the Tempo, a ferocious new work…Under Torney’s meticulous direction, actors Olivia Horton, Reuben Barsky and Sarah Silk have formed a perfectly coiled unit to present Carbunariu’s challenging play. In fact they function with more precision and mutual support than I have seen on a New York stage in years”.
IRISH CENTRAL
The New Electric Ballroom STUDIO THEATRE DC
“Director Matt Torney extracts perfect performances from his cast…I felt myself on the edge of my seat, of tears, and of shouting with joy. This is why we have theatre!”
BRIGHTEST YOUNG THINGS
(PICK OF THE WEEK) “…But more subtle are the masterful touches of in Matt Torney’s direction, Michael Giannitti’s lighting design, and Helen Q. Huang’s costumes, as well as Walsh’s poetic characterizations of the women.”
TBD
“Studio Scores with Enda Walsh Sister Act! Matt Torney…firmly and sensitively shepherds his actors through the landscape of their characters’ reveries…Delightful performances.”
WASHINGTON POST
“Matt Torney directs this oddball scene with a beguiling matter-of-factness that emphasizes both the magical and brutish elements of the play. This deadpan approach also brings out the humor, often mordant, inherent in Mr. Walsh’s luscious, language-drunk dialogue.”
DC THEATRE SCENE
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme PITTSBURGH IRISH AND CLASSICAL THEATRE
“There isn’t a second you’re not giving the production the attention demanded.”
CITY PAPER
“A triumphant production about earning love and respect and the true costs of war”
ENTERTAINMENT CENTRAL
“Beautifully directed by Matt Torney”
PITTSBURGH TODAY LIVE (CBS)
“Director Matt Torney’s seamless pacing kept the story marching forward to it’s inevitable conclusion”
TRIBUNE
Luca and the Sunshine DUBLIN FRINGE 2011
“Skillfully balancing subtlety with emotional punch…precision directing by Matt Torney ensures that not an image or movement is wasted.”
IRISH THEATRE MAGAZINE
“Lee’s lyrical, warping fable basks in both the radiance of fantasy and the scorch of destruction…the encouraging emergence of a new voice.”
IRISH TIMES
“an exericise of daring simplicity and shocking emotional granduer”
ARTHUB.IE
“Matt Torney and his design team have created an inspired vision for Riordan’s work… a seedy, forbidden atmosphere that suits the material perfectly… a raucous brainy spy mystery.”
DC THEATRE SCENE
Woyzeck ROUGH MAGIC (SEEDS)
“A highly imaginative, clever, very sexy production…directed by the clearly very talented Matt Torney. we are moved to pity by the contrast of emotions he elicits through presenting tragedy in cabaret style. It is a brave but in this instance very effective step…Superb!” (FIVE STARS)
THE IRISH TIMES
“Director Matt Torney sets the play in its own era, but creates a Brechtian-like artificiality by overlaying it with a cabaret atmosphere: he uses masks, songs, and music to whisk us through the tale of Woyzeck…Still rings strikingly true today.”
SUNDAY TRIBUNE
The Dudleys THEATRE FOR THE NEW CITY
“Astonishingly choreographed interaction among actors, video, and sound elements, are thrilling to watch and really unlike anything I’ve ever seen on stage…Spectacularly impressive!…Matt Torney has not only managed to bring this inordinately complicated piece to successful fruition; he’s also led the excellent cast of ten to superb performances.…one of the most exciting theatre experiences I’ve had this year.”
NYTHEATRE.COM
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot MAKING STRANGE THEATRE COMPANY
“Matt Torney’s able production envisions limbo as a dusty, otherworldly place…sophisticated theological argument going on underneath the hilarious, entertaining absurdity.”
IRISH TIMES