Blue Planet Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Recommended
"..."Blue Planet," adapted by Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnason from his celebrated kids book, "The Story of the Blue Planet," imagines a world inhabited entirely by kids. Unlike, say, "The Lord of the Flies," the kids on this planet live simply and happily. Sure, they have to club the occasional baby seal for sustenance, but nothing makes them yearn for more than they have."
Chicago Reader- Recommended
"...Adapted from an award-winning children's book by the Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason and directed by Wm. Bullion, Akvavit Theatre's idiosyncratic, eco-conscious production features puppets, aerial arts, and gobs of wisdom."
Chicago Stage and Screen- Highly Recommended
"...Blue Planet is a stunning visual feast produced by newcomer Akvavit Theater, a Nordic-inspired theater company. Based on the book of the same name by Andri Snær Magnason, an award-winning Icelandic writer who also adapted the play, the story incorporates movement, dance, and puppetry to tell the story of the Eden-like Blue Planet (“very much like our own”), which happens to be inhabited by carefree, “wild” children, who never grow old and have never experienced suffering or war."
Around The Town Chicago- Recommended
"...The portrayal of childhood in the play is idyllic and prelapserian; "Peter Pan," not "Lord of the Flies," or "Blue Remembered Hills," and if there was one thing adults cannot understand or capture it is child-like innocence. They make children either dark or ridiculous. That said, I'm not sure casting it with children was a realistic possibility, and I wish Magnason would have stayed clear of jokes about excretion which seem more puerile than child-like even if they weren't particularly vulgar."
NewCity Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"...As a parent, I would not have taken my daughter to this show at an early age. Much of the script's heavy-handed sermonizing would have gone over her head. And now, as a teenager, the show would likely bore her. It attempts to build something that sings to young audiences, but doesn't assemble the pieces in a harmonious way. This is sad in that its message of being good to the planet-and the people who live upon it-is a moral worth spreading."