While finding the symbolism lacking in subtlety, the critic argued that the "vision is unsparing, but it is filled with psychological insights and theatrical poetry [...] Mr. Fugard has brought the characters to vivid dramatic life".
Klein argued, "Just when Hello and Goodbye threatens to plunge an audience into terminal despair, Mr. Fugard's words pull it into reverse, casting forth images in lyric flight.
"[4] Brian Coates wrote in The Irish Times that the playwright "skilfully raises the dramatic tension by paralleling the machinery of the plot with Hester's sad, self-conscious frustration.
The uncovering of mother's clothes, shoes she wore as a child, Johnie's application to the railway (a lie exposed), reveal a depth of character which the brittle surface of her Jo'burg self has been at pains to conceal.
"[7] Catherine Love gave the 2019 York Theatre Royal performance four out of five stars in The Guardian, writing, "What looks like a slight domestic drama digs, gradually, into dark and profound territory."