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Reviews and Praise
As Mrs. Marshall in Playhouse Creatures directed by Alana Byington. Photo by Gary Norman.
- For Playhouse Creatures
- "Mrs. Marshall (Brenan Dwyer) is trying to act in a scene while some guy heckles her from the wings. Later, through pounding on the dressing room door, the same heckler is heard again. He’s her would-be husband, she explains—a nobleman who tricked her into a kind of marriage he doesn’t have to honor. Dwyer spits fire in this role, as the woman who tried to do everything by the book and still got screwed" Oregon Arts Watch.
"The entire cast strikes an effective, emotionally charged balance between pride and self-loathing—the joys of the stage inspiring the former, and the hecklers and opportunistic men tugging them back toward the latter. Their stories are delivered with a duality of strength and helplessness that is frustratingly relevant today" Willamette Week.
"I especially liked Dainichia Noreault as the headstrong, foul-mouthed, and entirely unapologetic Nell Gwynn and Brenan Dwyer as Mrs. Marshall, who you kind of hate in the beginning but who turns out to have perhaps the most tragic story of all." BroadwayWorld.
"Mrs. Marshall (Brenan Dwyer, also co-producer) is a more seasoned actor but is doing it for the money. She is outspoken, a hard outer shell, exposing little mercy for others" Dennis Sparks.
"The chemistry of the five Portland performers gives the piece its strongest spark, and their comic timing runs pretty much like clockwork. Bonus: The women they portray aren't archetypes." The Oregonian.
For Belfast Girls:
- "Because there are just five characters and nearly every scene takes place inside their dorm on the Inchinnan (or outside on its deck), it is important that every actor carries her weight and rises to the occasion – and Whelan has assembled a cast fully capable of doing that and more... Dwyer is funny as Ellen, but also brings a depth and compassion that this character and others will need before the play is through." Oregon Arts Watch.
- "These women have all had hard lives, so it's natural that they would close themselves off. But that makes the moments when they let their guards down even more important. The closest they get in this production is the roughhousing between Ellen [Dwyer] and Hannah - half-playful, half-bickering exchanges that mark the women as sisters at heart." Broadway World Reviews.
- "Hannah (Summer Olsson) and [Ellen (Brenan Dwyer)] bicker as siblings scrabbling over petty morsels, a duo that starts in lighthearted banter. "She never said no to an urge in her life," says one to the other. "Your mouth could fit a whale in it!" These two trade some of the brightest lines in the play, underpinned by a vicious anger that multiplies as the strain of the journey destroys camaraderie, leaving claws and teeth." EDGE Media Network
As Evadne in The Maids' Tragedy, directed by Barry Kyle. Photo by Gary Norman.
For The Maids' Tragedy:
- "Brenan Dwyer as Evadne, who starts out as a cold-hearted, hateful woman, but is forced to face the error of her ways, and eventually tries to right her wrongs; it's an incredible character arc, but Dwyer never misses a chance to delve into the character's feelings, and by the end of the play you're impressed by how far both Evadne and the actress playing her are willing to go." BroadwayWorld
- "Dwyer's treatment of Evadne is similarly smart. She could easily be played as a flat femme fatale—the play's very afraid of female sexuality, and Evadne is the chief embodiment of that (silly) fear. Instead, she's a woman trapped in a world with no room for her ambitions, who also kills people." - The Portland Mercury
- "Equally impressive is Brenan Dwyer, who gives us an artfully portrayed Evadne. Early on she moves smoothly between seductive sensuality and icy sharpness — expertly keeping king and Amintor at bay. Later when desperately trying to regain some of the virtue she had initially treated so cavalierly, Dwyer movingly reveals the intensity of Evadne's remorse as well as her ultimate vulnerability." - The Oregonian
- "It’s a joy to see actors like Vanderzee, Dwyer, Walton and Turner bring modernity, wit and life to meaty material like this, a show that rarely sees the stage. Each at times feels like the protagonist, expertly gripping the audience in her or his personal turmoil." PQ Monthly