May 13, 2023May 17, 2023Chicago Reviews Wil Wilhelm queers the Bard’s life and works and bites their thumb at conservatives in Gender Play, or what you Will Photo by Michael Brosilow About 2/3 of the way through About Face Theatre’s production of Gender Play, or what you Will, the […]
November 11, 2022November 12, 2022Chicago Reviews “Malapert Love” is the funniest show of the year. Photo by Joe Mazza Brave Lux Malapert /ˈmaləpərt/ ARCHAIC: adjective… “boldly disrespectful to a person of higher standing”; noun… “an impudent person” […]
May 29, 2022June 17, 2022Chicago Reviews Powerful, compelling Richard III deserves a bigger audience Somehow, through all of my years as a play-goer, an English teacher, and a theatre critic, I had managed to miss out […]
November 27, 2021November 27, 2021Chicago Reviews Another Op’nin, Another Show: a brilliant Kiss Me, Kate might help you overcome the misogyny I’ll just say this bluntly: Kiss Me, Kate, like the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew on which it is based, […]
October 30, 2021October 16, 2026Chicago Reviews Invictus Theater’s Hamlet is “Madness, but there be Method in it” “Who’s there?” So begins Shakespeare’s Hamlet, an exploration of humanity through the mind of perhaps the single greatest character in the history […]
October 22, 2019October 22, 2019Chicago Reviews Invictus’ brilliant “Merchant of Venice” adds a (too?) painful layer to the show’s antisemitism Review by Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage, member American Theatre Critics Association. Photo by Brian McConkey. How do you write a review of a […]
September 7, 2019September 7, 2019Chicago Reviews “Something Rotten” is a fresh and clever send-up of musicals and Shakespeare Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member; photo by Liz Lauren. There are a few things you can always count […]
August 12, 2019August 12, 2019Chicago Reviews Shakespeare 2, Cicadas 1 in Oak Park Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member; photo by Jhenai Mootz. It’s Shakespeare versus an army of cicadas at Oak […]
July 14, 2019July 14, 2019Chicago Reviews First Folio’s outdoor “Henry V” soars with a brilliant genderblind cast Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member; photo by Tom McGrath. A pop-up thunderstorm soaked the areas just south of […]
July 13, 2019July 13, 2019Chicago Reviews Creepy “Macbeth” doesn’t always work as well as the actors deserve Review by Karen Topham, American Theatre Critics Association member. Let me get this out of the way at the start: as a […]
