Blueberry Toast presented by Tympanic Theatre Company at Athenaeum Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...Allie Long (in Stepfordian happy homemaker mode, which she never completely sheds even in her most psychotic moments) and Christopher Meister (as a man willfully ignorant of his wife's dissatisfaction, though consumed with his own) do their best to connect, but instead of naturalism, the play is going for something arch and affected - an aggressively zany rancor - which keeps everything at arm's length. If it were scathingly funny, you mightn't notice this structural emptiness as much. But the comedy just isn't there. Nor, for that matter, is the pathos."

Chicago Reader - Not Recommended

"...Seventy minutes of watching a man psychologically and physically abuse his wife (and sometimes vice versa) might sound provocative, but Laws's contrived script is such a laundry list-gunshots, doublespeak, simulated sex, creepy singing twins, diatribes about oil-that despite looking and sounding like a statement it never has much of anything to say. In case there was any subtlety to the domestic theme, though, a curtain call to Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" drives the point home."

Third Coast Review - Somewhat Recommended

"...If you had a sinking suspicion that, hey, maybe Tympanic Theatre Company's Blueberry Toast is not about fruity breads and Eggo waffles and a celebration of domestic bliss over an IKEA table and the musical stylings of The Carpenters, well, you clearly know a metaphor when you see one. However, what you will find is a new generation of dark comedy, albeit paired with an execution that finds itself struggling to keep up."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...When the adults get down to the business of quite literally tearing each other apart (with blood sport courtesy of Jon Beal), we are thrown into a world of domestic violence that is alternatingly gross and grossly amusing. What playwright Mary Laws is trying to say about human nature, patriarchy or family structure remains elusive though also beside the point. This is a strange little play that occupies its own universe. With a little tweaking it should stand a fighting chance in the battle against good taste."