“River Roux leads the way. She seeks Anita Berber, mirrors herself in Berber and her art, to give shape to her own biography — perhaps even to find identity and meaning. (…) What she now presents at the Gorki, in dialogue with the few film clips that remain of Anita Berber, deserves great admiration. With her well-trained body and her clear, slightly husky voice, River Roux captivates the audience as if you were sitting in a club. She speaks both English and German. She radiates dignity and a controlled eroticism. Several times she mentions that not much is actually known about Anita Berber. And that Berber offers a wonderful canvas for projection. She says this with respect. That’s what distinguishes Lola Arias’ work: no cheap glitz, no vain self-reflection, no lamenting.”
– “Homage to Anita Berber at the Maxim Gorki Theater”, Tagesspiegel, Rüdiger Schaper, 19.10.25

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“A calm, almost mysterious atmosphere governs this play with biographies, which is essentially a kind of cheeky narrative performance, interrupted by reenactments. (…) On the other hand, it's about River and her colleagues themselves, and how they mirror themselves and their art in Anita’s legacy — in their courage to break boundaries and not just artistically imitate more than one gender, but to live it openly. (…) And then she swings herself onto the pole and spins upward so spectacularly, almost weightlessly, that all conceptual boundaries about the body are quickly left behind. It’s one of the evening’s most powerful moments.”
– “Androgynous. Portrait of a Naked Dancer”: World Premiere of Lola Arias’ New Piece, Berliner Zeitung, 19.10.25

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“Bishop Black, River Roux, Dieter Rita Scholl, and their director Lola Arias are too honest, too sincere to sugarcoat Anita Berber’s short, radical life into a heroic tale. (…) The production has glam, queer pride, truth, and melancholy. In other words: it’s definitely another reason for the AfD to hate the brilliant Gorki Theater.”
– “Another Reason for the AfD to Hate the Gorki”, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 19.10.25

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“If you let yourself be put off by the subtitle, you’ll miss a clever evening that introduces the Berlin performer River Roux as a reincarnation of Berber. (…) When Roux compares her own biography with that of a dancer from 100 years ago, surprising parallels open up: for example, the proximity between the stage and the red-light district. Or the sexual libertinism — and you already sense that it won’t survive the rise of fascism.”
– “Rough Voice, Perfect Butt”, Falk Schreiber, nachtkritik.de, 19.10.25

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“…as you listen to her final soliloquy about shaving every few hours to prevent the appearance of stubble (or having shaved or even having to shave), you can’t help but be impressed with how this performance illuminates — and critiques — the Sisyphean ritual of making the unruly, intersex body legible. Out of estrogen pills and testosterone foams: poetry.”
– “Juice: River Roux’s Poetic Embrace of the Intersex Body”, Sanders Bernstein, The Berliner, 10.01.25

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“A glass box resembling an aquarium. Inside: River Roux, a hoop, a folding chair, a latex coat, and lots of slimy gel, packed into small pouches. These are the basic ingredients of the performance Juice. What performance artist River Roux created from them is a piece as touching as it is unsettling, about the tension-filled relationship between body and gaze. (…) The titular Juice becomes a metaphor for something gender-fluid and amorphous, constantly overflowing its container, spilling across bodies and norms. There’s a form of resistance in that, too — one that comes through with great force in the performance.”
– “Good for Bern”, Noah Pilloud, journal-b.ch, 14.05.25