"Even at slightly over an hour, 'Pondling' outstays its welcome by about fifteen minutes. The script itself is too deliberately vague, glossing over major story points and hard to follow as Hulme-Beaman spits out the text at lighting speed. Director Paul Meade has created a very fluid staging, but the pacing needs to be slowed down to allow whatever details have made their way into the story to sink in with audience members."
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"Where another writer might have more lucidly fleshed out Madeleine's history or placed her more firmly in her surrounding environment, Hulme-Beaman piles on the tics and mannerisms, making her heroine increasingly hard to take...As it stands, it is one of the more exhausting entertainments around. It might be twice as good at half the intensity. When Madeleine finally meets her fate, you may find you don't feel anything -- except gratitude at being sprung from the theatre."
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"With 'Pondling,' Ms. Hulme-Beaman, who gives a stunning performance under Paul Meade’s direction, offers up a psychological profile of a troubled and damaged girl. You may find yourself at times sympathizing with her, even caught up in the drama of her story telling, but in the end, you are more likely to recoil."
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"There is nothing subtle in this one-woman show, written and performed by Genevieve Hulme-Beaman. This, you see, is a monster story...Under the keen, brisk direction of Paul Meade, Hulme-Beaman brings a wonderfully eerie (and Éire) physicality to her role with an intense stare that could melt glass...As a playwright, Hulme-Beaman has a deft ear and is clearly in love with language and with the classics."
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"'Pondling' is too strange to be entirely relatable..The primary reason for 'Pondling’s' hype and accolades is Hulme-Beaman’s performance. To her writing credit, the character and the language of the play allow Hulme-Beaman plenty of emotional territory to navigate...The content of the play is not necessarily evidence of the magic of the thing, but Hulme-Beaman’s gift for performance makes 'Pondling’s' eighty minutes pass in what feels like a few short moments."
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"What makes 'Pondling' so delightful – in addition to its thoughtful and intelligent appeal – is the remarkable writing and performance craft of Genevieve Hulme-Beaman. From the first sentence the audience hears and the first movement the audience sees, one is fully aware that something spectacular is about to happen on stage... See this remarkable play and decide what that choice might or might not have been."
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"In 'Pondling', Genevieve Hulme-Beaman, an interesting young Irish actress-writer, stars in her own offbeat, lyrical, yet slightly grotesque, one-hour solo play...'Pondling' is a fine showcase for Ms. Hulme-Beaman, both as a writer and performer. She'll be welcome on these shores anytime she chooses to wing her way across the pond."
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"The last events in this tour de force rise to a climax that is surprising and inevitable...Genevieve Hulme-Beaman’s Madeleine is a characterization and portrayal that is not easily forgotten. With the staging and props scattered with superb utility, the fine direction and acting make for a beautiful, grotesque, haunting and suspenseful production."
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