September 2021
The Revolutionists
“Rachel Manu is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to her portrayal of... Marianne Angelle. There is a pressing, urgent desperation in all of her movements and textual deliveries, which never wavers from her core but does get dialed up and down depending on the severity of the scene... you feel this unyielding sense of determination radiating out from Manu in tidal waves. Manu has extraordinary facial expressions, particularly when it comes to casting withering looks of disbelief when Olympe de Gouge is whining or when Marie Antoinette is being— well, Marie.”
—Theatre Bloom
Photo by Madeline Reinhold
December 30th , 2019
DCMTA 2019
Staff Favorites
Outstanding performance in a professional production
April 2019
Hamlet in original pronunciation
“Manu..moves with dancer’s grace, demonstrates an extreme level of trust in her castmates and is lovely to watch.”
— Broadway World
“…the production's blow-away performance [comes] from a newcomer to Shakespeare (let alone OP), Manu as Ophelia. She presents a perfect balance of a proud but naïve young woman in the play's first half, but rather than the character's naïveté informing her performance in the second half, Manu pushes Ophelia's innate pride to the forefront of her mad scenes…. She's a commanding presence in the room….This is a potent Ophelia, and taken together with her all-business, politically astute portrayal of Fortinbras, Manu establishes herself as a nascent Shakespearean talent.”
— Shakespeareances.com
Photo by Will Kirk