Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Throughout, Smith's Muller watches the proceedings from behind a grate, but when he finally speaks again, it's a blistering excoriation of his own failings and that of his art. "I know the arguments for art. I've made them all myself," he says — and then goes on to describe the accommodations he reached with the East German Stasi (or secret police) in order to continue his work. The play's final image provides a disquieting sense of ambiguity and makes us wonder if we can, indeed, ever find "that fantastic cozy middle ground between having and sharing.""
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Pamela is a bubbly, pampered, reckless American who travels to East Germany on a sightseeing jaunt as the Berlin Wall is getting torn down. There she sees a play about a mother visiting her son in prison, and ends up caring for a baby while fleeing from police—the child, who belongs to the secretary general of the Communist Party, is being hunted like Astyanax in Troy, and to much the same purpose. Oracle's modifications and one-liners render the work more bitterly funny than its immediate predecessor, Mee's Full Circle. But the revised final outcome is visible from ten miles off, and despite the cast's powerful, often thrilling acting, the would-be triumphant climax is about as suspenseful as a crumbling old wall."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Between Pamela’s sometimes comedic struggles and some other dark humor, I’ll admit Circle-Machine grew on me as it went along. Eventually its central theme comes into its own despite the efforts of the firecrackers and the accordions. But to swallow such heady, defiant idealism in theater, and such a reorganization of political thought, might have asked for a subtler act; one that picked at our brains rather than slamming them with a hammer made of cardboard."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...The payoff here, it seems, is the conflict over the custody of the child. But in this 95-minute emotional travelogue it's frustratingly uncertain just what's at stake. Given no overview of so many non-causal happenings, the audience seldom feels ahead of the action-and often struggles to catch up."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Pasculi and his collaborators' cuts to Mee's script makes the play far more manageable and timely. Pamela and Müller's ideas about the value of art are also an argument for the particular kind of work Oracle does, besides being an excellent example of it. The ending is very different from what Mee or Brecht had in mind. The company is true to Müller's demand that artists use their imaginations, but they must also tell the truth, and cannot take refuge in communism's claim to be based on or foster love, or that peoples' nature can be changed. Circle-Machine succeeds as a dramatic story, as well as an invitation to think more deeply about the arguments it presents. In that way, it has fulfilled Brecht's hopes even while contradicting him."
The Fourth Walsh - Recommended
"...Despite my limited view, the story was captivating. The only speed bump for me was in Part 3 where Kevin V. Smith (Heiner Muller) delivers a passionate yet lengthy soliloquy. Smith’s speech seems overly-repetitive and an odd choice for this dynamic show. After his monologue is over, the impressive Smith is literally carried off into power and the show returns to its magnetic personality."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...As is common with Oracle shows, Pasculli and set designer James Ogden create an all-encompassing mise en scene. In this case it’s a prison: all gray concrete and chain-link fences. The action, staged alley style, moves fluidly from scene to montage to set piece and back. A journey across a rickety rope bridge is particularly affecting, as is a late, long monologue from Smith’s Muller castigating his lack of courage, as a man as well as an artist, in the face of real danger and oppression. Those two moments stand out as stark contrasts: one intimately human, the other boldly theatrical, and both of them exquisitely realized."
