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Articles tagged with: Courtney O’Neill

‘Father Comes Home From Wars’ at Goodman: Adapting Homer (et al.) to epic of moral siege

Jun 18, 2018 – 8:07 pm
Feature 1 Liz Lauren

Review: Hero is strong young slave in the 1860s South who finds himself agonizing over an option: Accept his owner’s proposition to accompany him into the war against the Yankees, in exchange for his subsequent freedom, or remain behind as a slave for the rest of his life. That’s the setup of Suzan-Lori Parks’ epic and very human play “Father Comes Home From the Wars,” now on smart, provocative and impassioned display at Goodman Theatre under the direction of Niegel Smith. ★★★★

‘Harvey’ at Court: In wacky account, message of a good soul, invisible rabbit is plain to see

May 30, 2017 – 7:32 am
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Review: In these parlous times, it’s good to remember that Mary Chase’s radiant moral comedy “Harvey” won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. As Elwood P. Dowd, the protagonist who pals around with a 6-foot-tall invisible white rabbit, might say: I’d like to see a prize awarded to Court Theatre for its lovely staging of the play. ★★★★★

‘Moby Dick’ at Lookingglass: A man’s obsessive drive to annihilate a whale surges to electric life

Jun 22, 2015 – 7:45 pm
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Review: Translating a great novel into a successful stage work is hardly a mere matter of reformulation. They are different beasts, novel and play. All the more marvelous, then, is David Catlin’s imaginative, poetic, indeed galvanic adaptation of Herman Meville’s “Moby Dick” for Lookingglass Theatre. ★★★★★

‘The Great God Pan’ at Next – When narrative runs out of thread, the drama is left dangling

Apr 17, 2014 – 1:41 pm
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Review: The setup of Amy Herzog’s play “The Great God Pan” is intriguing: A man in his early thirties reconnects with a childhood chum who makes deeply disturbing claims about their formative years. Problem is, where we ultimately expect catharsis the playwright leaves us merely teased. And despite director Kimberly Senior’s sensitive and tempting effort, the current production at Next Theatre cannot magically spin this fragment into whole cloth.

Portrait of a physics star as earthly genius bursts from concise frame in bio-drama ‘QED’

Nov 17, 2012 – 2:59 pm
Rob Riley in QED produced by theatre4humanity Chicago 2012 feature image

Review: ★★★