TheaterMania - Highly Recommended
"...King has written a gripping drama for the age of globalization, with characters bouncing between Beijing, Melbourne, and Palo Alto. She lucidly conveys complicated technical issues of international law and online infrastructure, using them as a basis to examine more timeless questions about ambition and our responsibility to other people (especially our own siblings)."
TheaterScene.net - Somewhat Recommended
"...Nevertheless, when all this becomes clear, Golden Shield turns into an engrossing corporate legal thriller though the ending is a bit ambiguous as to why it turns out the way it does. The cast works hard to bring this complex play to life. As the idealistic lawyer Julie, Cindy Cheung is cool and unruffled, while her opposite number, Max Gordon Moore as CEO Marshall McLaren is explosive, temperamental and volatile. Ruibo Qian as Julie's younger sister Eva shows all the emotion that her older sister does not, while keeping secrets of her own."
NY Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...In Act II of Golden Shield, the ambitious new drama by Anchuli Felicia King, the narrator takes us through the English proverb "too many cooks in the kitchen." What that proverb means, says the narrator (played with energetic charm by Fang Du), is "misguided benevolence. Too many people trying to help at once." It's a popular adage, and it can also be used to describe King's play: compelling but overstuffed with ideas."
Stage Buddy - Highly Recommended
"...Such is the richness and nuance of Golden Shield: riveting and deeply thought-provoking, it draws lines--parallel, intersectional--between people who in some ways couldn't be more opposite; it reminds us that each decision has far-reaching ripple effects; and it urges us to fight so that our most cherished relationships don't get lost in translation."
Theater Pizzazz - Somewhat Recommended
"...Still, it's frankly a bit too much for one play to handle, especially with the constant jumps back and forth in time and place (from 2006 to 2016, from China to Texas to Australia, among other locations)-transitions which director May Adrales doesn't handle as smoothly as she might, and which are sometimes clumsily conveyed on (set designer) dots' LED-heavy set."
The Observer - Somewhat Recommended
"...As I said, such a corporate-legal-domestic-bicultural-political sandwich would be better unpacked and dramatized in an episodic, visual medium. That’s where clunky, congested dialogue (forced profanity, Mametty bro banter) might be smoothed out, and international locales presented vividly, not just wheeled into the neutral space of taupe perforated walls arranged by designer dots."
New York Stage Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director May Adrales ultimately proves unable to clarify the narrative complexity, while the hard-working performers struggle to provide depth to the thinly drawn characters. You can feel their efforts, and the strenuous effort of the writing, so vividly that by the end of the evening you’re the one left exhausted."
