Reviews

So ultimately despite Inventing Van Gogh’s more obtuse qualities, I’ll venture to say that Strange Bedfellow’s current mounting is still worth the price of admission. At times as wildly out-of-control as Van Gogh himself, there’s nonetheless something intoxicating about its particular brand of madness. Never content to simply tell us what it’s trying to say, the play requires that we actively wade through the muck to find it out. And only even then do we find ourselves reflected back at us. Much like the action internal to the play itself, extracting meaning from Inventing Van Gogh is its own form of self-portraiture.

So sure. Kokandy’s Last Five Years is a tad underdeveloped and doesn’t always take dramatic advantage of the openness of its material. But at the same time, it also doesn’t obfuscate or overcomplicate the show’s purposely lean emotional through line. Powerful and resonant when it matters most, more than anything, this production is a solid testament to the enduring power of Brown’s revelatory score.

n less capable hands than the astute director, Alison C. Vesely, this play would not be believable. Instead, Vesely has selected the perfect cast, and each talently nails their character’s moments of reckoning. You could almost hear the sighs in the audience, and certainly many laughs.

It begs questions that no family wants , but needs to address: how do you stop a violent mind? What should you do when all the warning signs are there that your emotionally troubled and apparently sociopath son may express his internal rage outwardly on society. Can anyone stop him before it is too late? Is his play fiction or does it foretell his plan?

Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s current production, being performed for free throughout the city’s neighborhood parks as part of this summer’s Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks, thankfully fulfills our expectations. This rapid-fire 75-minute adaptation by Jeff Award-winning director David H. Bell eschews too ponderous a conceptual approach in favor of a boisterous and slapstick romp, replete with wild acrobatics, juggling and light-hearted sight gags.