Early works Michael Toteborg wrote that while Kroetz writes controversial content for serious purposes and "never wanted to
raise himself above the characters interacting on the stage [...] the question concerning the aesthetic and political worth of Kroetz's dramatic productions is debatable". In a review of
Farmyard and Four Plays (which contains
Farmyard,
Request Concert, ''Michi's Blood
, Men's Business
, and the Men's Business
revision A Man, A Dictionary''), Dasgupta billed the playwright's works as "lyrical, scathing, humane dramas". Frank Rich wrote in a review of ''Michi's Blood'' that it is not one of Kroetz's best work, and said the playwright engages in "uncharacteristic point-making, by force-feeding his heroine [...]
Beckett-isms".
The Washington Post's David Richards argued, "Unpleasant as it may be, 'Michi's Blood' is on to something about people deprived of language, purpose and the awareness of their own feelings."
Brecht-influenced works Cocalis claimed that by 1972 Kroetz had drawn some criticism for being too repetitive or too apolitical. Works like
Lienz – Gateway to the Dolomites (1972),
Maria Magdalena (1972),
Sterntaler (1974),
Heimat (1975), and
Agnes Bernauer (1976) were neither critically nor commercially successful. In
Maria Magdalena Kroetz in her view struggles with his own formal idiom, and the Brechtian elements of
Sterntaler and
Heimat make them less powerful than previous works, akin to melodrama or soap opera. Critics of
Agnes Bernauer found the heroine unconvincing and the socio-economics oversimplified. In a 2001 review of
Alexander Gelman's
A Man with Connections, about a man who is viewed by his wife as responsible for an industrial accident that harmed their son,
Lyn Gardner argued that Kroetz handles a similar scenario better in
The Nest. In 2016, however, she said
The Nest has didactic impulses and "now looks a little simplistic and old-fashioned" despite a topical environmental message.
Through the Leaves (1976) Barry V. Daniels lauded
Through the Leaves as thematically "far beyond the specific naturalism of Antoine. When the generally middle class, educated audience confronts the essential matter of the play – its profound humanness – the barrier between them and the lower class characters breaks down". Reviewing a 1987 performance of
Through the Leaves at the Dallas Theater Center, Jeannie M. Woods praised the play's psychological insight, calling it "a profoundly disturbing play [...] Her Pollyanna attitude seems to flourish on Otto's abuse and on his inability to express his affection. [...] The harsh reality is tempered both by the warmth of Martha and by grotesque comedy." Frank Rich of
The New York Times wrote in 1984 that the play "is not pleasant, but it sticks like a splinter in the mind." He said that even certain impediments of the production he had attended (like Downey's English translation being relocated in Queens) did not "mute the jarring strains of [Kroetz's] genuinely disturbing theatrical voice." In 2003,
The Guardians Michael Billington gave a Southwark Playhouse performance four out of five stars and wrote, "What makes Kroetz an exceptional dramatist is that he links behaviour to economics." He also argued, "Without a hint of patronage or condescension, Kroetz shows how both characters are victims of circumstance." Gardner called it "a gripping but gruelling dissection of a relationship that flounders on mismatched desire, conditioned responses and the utter failure of language [...] one of his best plays".
Tom Fool (1978) Mark Brown praised the playwright as understanding the 'double burden' of class and gender carried by working class women, and added that "arguably his best writing is reserved for Otto's solitary musings on his position [...] The great beauty of
Tom Fool is that it manages to address the politics of capitalism without a hint of polemic. Kroetz relies upon the emotional dynamics and powerful poetry that are the hallmark of great theatre". Gardner gave a positive review to a 2007 performance, arguing that Kroetz is able to make mundane events "hypnotic"; she claimed that the majority of the play is "like watching an unstable building sway and fall in agonising slow motion."
Tom Fool was described as "superb" in
The Herald.
1980s and beyond According to
Dominic Dromgoole, Kroetz was for some "the guiding light of the 1980s. For others, he was the most mind-bogglingly boring playwright history had ever thrown up." The surrealistic
Neither Fish Nor Flesh (1981) was controversial, with half the audience at its Munich premiere leaving by the end of the third act.
Hellmuth Karasek praised
Bauern sterben (1985) in the same magazine. Discussing the same play, McGowan criticized the city-country dichotomy in which the former is depicted as soulless and the latter is glorified, though he dubbed the play "powerfully and self-consciously theatrical", saying it contains "a series of elemental, powerful images."
Der Drang (
The Urge, 1994), an extended version of
Lieber Fritz Ich bin das Volk (
I Am the People, 1994) garnered mixed responses. ==Selected plays==