Chicago Critic Must See recommendations.
I was impressed by the creative and craft of the Mossman/Miller film. In The Wake is a memory film that utilizes the main elements that distinguish film from other art forms. The cinematography was thrilling with a fine blend of panorama shots with thrilling chase footage with telling close ups.
We meet the Miller family – four children, the mother and father with an aunt and an uncle all surviving living together in an upper middle class Connecticut house. It is the 4th of July, 1906 in a time of pure innocence in America.
Some plays are so brilliant, so perceptive, so poignant that they can be seen time and again — each viewing revealing another gem. This is the case with The Glass Menagerie. In this classic work, four anguished characters — successfully depicted by Redtwist Theatre’s excellent cast — are not only unrelievedly human but also amazingly archetypal.
It’s been over 50 years since Harold Pinter’s chilling and influential vignette of two hit men debuted, and TUTA’s revival proves it’s lost none of its power to haunt the mind.
This psychologically compelling work features a collection of damaged and emotionally wrecked individuals struggling to escape their unhappiness. They are filled with fear- of loneliness, of abandonment and the loss of the amenities of the good life. The don’t want to utilize the figurative American plan-that is one price for both room and meals.
Fitzpatrick carries on from the influence of Studs Terkel as he chronicles today’s world through anecdotal memories and characterizations of influential folks from his past including his father.
The cast, sporting authentic English accents, featured extremely articulate use of Saunders’ language that quite effectively delivered the wit, satire, and truthfulness in respect to the playwrights script. Seldom to you see such outstanding ensemble work as rendered here.
Set in the Celtic Tiger boom in Ireland, Deirdre Kinahan’s Moment is a tightly drawn kitchen-sink family drama that finds a family reunion of sorts turning into dramatic confrontation where old wounds are rubbed. Setting down to tea, the Lynch’s welcome their estranged son, Nail (Josh Odor) to the family’s Dublin home.
Even more amazing than seeing four characters enact 140 parts, is realizing just how brilliantly they accomplish this Herculean task. In actuality, Peter Simon Hilton plays only one part — but it is a biggie, demanding his consummate acting skill
Kudos to the newly formed Chicago Commercial Collective for remounting A Steady Rain. The Collective is dedicated to remounting shows that closed too soon. They are badly need here since many a hit show was forced to close too soon. Welcome! Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy should see this show then he’ll want all his supervisors to see it so they can become more aware of rogue cops.