Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Although the show moves well, Wednesday night was a bit rough in the house, what with cellphones ringing, latecomers arriving, early-leavers leaving and a few scenes going awry in terms of text. One hopes that will improve. For whether or not you buy its central argument, "Douglass" is an intellectually rigorous piece of writing full of the words of one of the most formidable minds and souls in American history. It's like watching the un-"Hamilton.""
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...The problem isn't that Douglass fiddles with the legacy of a fierce, life-long abolitionist agitator--a man who had a price on his head in the south and was once bound with rope, dragged through Boston, and all but lynched by a proslavery mob. The problem is that it treats the idea that Garrison may have harbored racist tendencies as some kind of revelation. Indeed, as the revelation. It isn't. There's a powerful play-a tragedy-to be written about Douglass and Garrison, attempting to be free people in the context of a society whose poisoned air they couldn't help but breathe and share. Douglass misses the chance to be that by making a centerpiece of an insight that should've been among its basic assumptions."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...There are handsome projections ( by Liviu Pasare ) of written/printed texts which the audience cannot always relate to the onstage actions. Mieka van de Ploeg's costumes pleasingly suggest mid-19th Century with elegant touches. Christopher McElroen's staging is clean and efficient, making use of virtually no furniture or props, so actors enter, stand and deliver in mostly two-person scenes, then exit. The play ends abruptly without completing Douglass' story. Folks will understand some of his ideas, but not why he is so important in U.S. history."
Stage and Cinema - Somewhat Recommended
"...To the play’s credit, it asks a necessary question to indict today’s factions: What best sways men’s souls—reason or feeling (Hillary or Trump)? No question, Douglass’s unfinished journey from chains in Maryland to meetings with Lincoln remains a very American odyssey. But with perverse success Douglass manages to preserve it in amber and under glass."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...There are also moments when Douglass and Garrison/Delaney debate whether the Constitution is wholly fraudulent or a moral document with some concessions to the circumstances in which it was written which sound like a debate over scripture, and could be worth exploring. But the script and the production both need to be tighter and more energetic, and there needs to be a stronger connection to today's struggles than simply saying racism exists now that separatism is no longer widely considered as an alternative."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The ensemble of players in this show that fill out the rest of the characters are all able bodied actors; John Lister, Carrie Lee Patterson and Jess Berry. This show might be one where a discussion following the show would make sense. Learning more about the things that happened after the slaves were freed is an important part of history. From other plays and films, we have learned that some states did not recognize the new laws and freed slaves were captured and forced back into slavery despite the change."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Despite this production’s stark, strikingly dramatic artistic concept, seen especially in Mieka van der Ploeg’s stunning costumes, racial relations are seldom merely black and white. There are many shades of gray in between, and Thomas Klingenstein’s new play portrays some of these viewpoints. Although we learn a great deal about this important African American trailblazer, in many ways this drama isn’t simply an historical, Civil War drama. It’s as contemporary and timely as today’s headlines. However, at two hours in length, the show’s unnecessarily long and takes a while to rekindle its impact following the intermission. Christopher McElroen’s staging, while sometimes inventive, is static and uninspired. Some of his excellent cast, however, need to master their lines, which were shaky on opening night. However, as an entertaining, educational new work, this play illustrates the old maxim that history so often repeats itself."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Douglass" wants to be an antebellum epic. The austere blank stage, bare apart from three long sheets at the back and a corner of rotting, torn up wood, is just wide enough to evoke images of great halls where treatises are signed and people argue with the noblest of intentions. Detailing the partnership-cum-feud between Frederick Douglass and William Garrison, "Douglass" teaches quite a bit and neatly sums up in tidy little boxes a series of what must have been extremely brutal scenes."
