"Strongly recommended: Excellent... frightening, funny, heartfelt and layered with intelligently observed empathy... Hunter’s script is a marvelously woven tapestry of characters confronting fears and identities they’ve spent years trying to keep at bay... Each member of the cast delivers a memorable performance, But it’s Nicholas Pelczar’s compelling performance as Charlie that will likely remain unforgettable for those who see it."

"Brings forth an emotional wallop worthy of its title seagoing creature... a triumphant performance by Nicolas Pelczar... All the pieces of this production have aligned with Hunter's words to bring The Whale to a place of rare theatrical magnitude."

FIVE STARS! "Theatre at its best. This is a do not miss production."

"Theatre at its best! Marin Theatre Company’s New Play Program has become the Bay Area blue-chip showcase for new American plays.... Stunning, riveting and gut wrenching; will keep you transfixed... Nicholas Pelczar gives a prizewinning performance... This is a do not miss production."

"This often darkly comedic drama is emotionally wrenching... It's a powerful and difficult play – But some of Charlie's hopefulness about human nature can't help but rub off on the viewer."

Nothing could prepare me for the powerful performance of Nicholas Pelczar: It’s unquestionably the best acting job of the year"

"Powerful... Nothing could prepare me for the powerful, spot-on performance of Nicholas Pelczar... For me, it’s unquestionably the best acting job of the year... The supporting cast also dazzles... “The Whale” is so potent that the opening night crowd, totally stunned, didn’t applaud for several seconds. A thunderous tumult then rocked the place."

"Nicholas Pelczar gives a stunning demonstration of craft; a virtuoso performance akin to a musician mastering an atonal score written in constantly changing rhythms

FIVE STARS! "The best new play I've seen this year"

"Brilliant: beautifully written, emotionally knotty... the best new play I've seen this year... a remarkable performance by Nicholas Pelczar... One of the many miracles of Hunter's ingenious drama: it allows us to enter the lives of others so deeply we begin to see the world—good, bad or ugly—through their eyes."

"Hunter’s play has much to recommend it – a seething dark humor and plenty of juice – and Marin Theatre’s take on it, deftly orchestrated by director Jasson Minadakis, is irresistible. If you think a lonely fat guy’s end-of-life travails can’t be riveting, think again... I was gripped by The Whale. It’s must-see theater... The remarkable actor Nicholas Pelczar [is] front and center in a role that would try the finest actors [and] you believe completely in him - though what he does goes beyond realism; he transmutes it into wrenching poetry."

TOP RATING! "Effective, genuine, heartfelt" 

"Makes a splash... a curiously effective exploration of empathy and search for signs of genuine, heartfelt expression... Under Minadakis’ skilled orchestration, Nicholas Pelczar’s remarkably open, unwieldy, weak but surprisingly strong-willed Charlie and the rest of the cast draw us ever deeper into a world of human error, remorse, aspirations and connection."

"A memorable night: Nicholas Pelczar is brilliant; It is a dazzling tour de force of acting... A moving production."

"Directed with skill and sensitivity that elicits multi-layered performances from each actor... Nicholas Pelczar delivers a tour de force as Charlie – It’s an incredible feat of acting. The other four actors are outstanding, too, creating characters with complex motivations... It holds the audience rapt, thanks to Hunter’s writing and Pelczar’s performance for the ages."

"Uniquely beautiful, intriguing... Actor Nicholas Pelczar is extraordinary: He imbues Charlie’s gargantuan body with such feeling that you immediately root for him, even though the odds are decidedly not in his favor. The wheezing, the strenuous effort to journey from the couch to the walker to the bathroom is arduous and hard to watch, but then there’s Pelczar’s sweet face or Charlie’s even sweeter nature there to remind you of the person underneath all that person."