REVIEWS AND COMMENTS
HEEL:
“It is without doubt the most engaging performance I have seen at ASU and many places beyond, solo or otherwise. The magic of the performance was evidenced in the juxtaposition of your gutsy presence in the multiple roles laced with such intelligent, informed and insightful interpretations and expressions through the writing, the distilled yet riveting imagery through your own body movement, your intimate relationships with props, as well as the extended body effects so beautifully integrated with the various audio and video technologies.”--Richard Loveless, Founding Director, Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University.
“I
thought it was a brilliant work. It was enormously challenging intellectually,
and I think there are
enough of us here who like intellectual theater to make a dent in the
anti-intellectual bias that artificially permeates the air. A good storm
will wash it out, and Heel was a storm.”--audience member/ASU faculty
PROJECT DESIRE:
“Elegant,
strong, emotional, restrained; Project Desire is a mature work of art...it
captures the uncertain reality of the human experience in a way words
can’t..combines Webb’s strength and pin-point articulation,
Jeff McMahon’s swift, sardonic, tender American commentaries.”--Pamela
Anthony THE EDMONTON JOURNAL July 1997
OTHER WORKS:
"McMahon's
dazzlingly liquid stream-of-consciousness rants and raves are like lifting
the lid off the skull of a self-aware man, and taking a peek inside...a
thrilling and often moving collage of angst and insight...the effect is
difficult to forget. The feeling is deep, and beautifully illustrated."
--Pamela Anthony THE EDMONTON JOURNAL May 7, 1994
"Bitter,
funny, occasionally grandiose and hysterical, City of God seems to trace
the movement of the mind itself as McMahon sings, talks, and dances"
--Laura Molzahn THE CHICAGO READER February 25, 1994
"a
riveting performer and a very smart observer-participant in a perilous
world."
--Deborah Jowitt THE VILLAGE VOICE December 21, 1993
"...a
funny, agile poet of a performance artist...exhilarating"
--Jennifer Dunning THE NEW YORK TIMES December 6, 1993
"...a
magnificent mover-deeply eloquent, deceptively effortless"
--Lewis Segal LOS ANGELES TIMES September 6, 1993
"Endowed
with a technique of breathtaking energy, McMahon is obsessed with the
nomenclature of social ills. He tosses them out into the public domains
and dances around them as if his life depended on it...A dancer, monologuist,
political commentator, and dream-time skater-reminding me of no one less
than Charlie Chaplin spinning on the gears of social machinery."
--Ned Bobkoff THE MAGAZINE Santa Fe October 1992
"How
is it that Jeff McMahon's solo is so fresh and vivid? Mastery of style,
tone, and technique are the crucial factors. McMahon weaves snatches of
song (martial, devotional, pop) and narrative (mocking, dreamy, confessional)
into a grimly witty indictment of attitudes behind the Gulf War"
--Cathy Curtis THE LOS ANGELES TIMES November 11, 1991
"He
modulates both voice and movement so quickly that one thinks he has flipped
his mental channels. Part poet, part preacher, part rapper and dancer,
he presents a patter of stream-of-conscious language that is brilliant
and filled with metaphors and snatches of cliches."
--J.L. Conklin THE BALTIMORE SUN February 9, 1991
"McMahon
slithers through space with an almost surreptitious grace, as if continually
avoiding collision...his arms weave a language of gesture...It was a wonderful
blend of activist theater and pure movement."
--Michael Crabb THE TORONTO STAR October 4, 1990
"I
found myself praying for a megaphone for all Miami to hear...Relentless
and brilliant...and every single moment was fascinating"
--Bill Spring THE MIAMI BEACH ANTENNA November 9, 1990
"an
intense and driven monologuist who moves with the elasticity of warm putty
and the lightness of a leaf buffeted by changeable winds. Mind and body
are blended inextricably...a tour de force of performing...a mesmerizing
litany that has the rhythmic repetitions, the dynamics and the aural subtleties
of a piece of music."
--Jennifer Dunning THE NEW YORK TIMES March 9, 1990
"His
words build litanies I never can remember exactly afterward and am too
mesmerized to write down...savage, mordantly funny"
--Deborah Jowitt THE VILLAGE VOICE November 29, 1988
"DISCONTENTS
is an activist dance/theater work; McMahon wants us disturbed enough to
do something. He probes the multifarious rifts in the social and psychic
fabric and forces them a little wider. He revels in sinuous, twitchy,
flicking moves, and his tracks through space are narrow corridors...he
is fascinating to watch..amazingly fluid, sharp talk"
--Burt Supree THE VILLAGE VOICE March 27, 1990
"Dance
hardly sums up what McMahon does. His tense, repetitive movements are
accompanied by his words built into a phrase, a phrase added onto a phrase,
a phrase transformed into a litany...McMahon should be mandatory viewing."
--John Stickney DIALOGUE August 1989
"A
stunning dancer, McMahon's balance and precision etch his pain with acid"
--Lucia Dewey DRAMA-LOGUE September 7, 1988