Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...On balance, though, it works quite well at enlarging the scope of Pip's existence from a personal tale of yearning and betrayal to a portrait of a colonized nation wrestling with the pressures to become more like the colonizers - in education, manners and dress."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Production problems aside, Gupta's concept for "Great Adaptation" is brilliant. Dickens' original is a scathing commentary on classism and the hypocrisy of the pious wealthy. By making the impoverished Pip an Indian orphan and moving the story to India, Gupta layers issues of racism and colonialism onto the story. The English's self-anointed superiority has taught Pip to hate the very skin he lives in. It's a tragic legacy that remains intensely relevant today - as pointed out in a recent Moth story slam, "Fair and Lovely" skin cream is a multi-million dollar seller among Indian women who have been told for centuries that lighter is better."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...One of the pleasures of Dickens' literary universe is the richness of its detail, but this also makes for difficulty in summarizing the narrative progress for the stage. The production currently occupying the basement black box at the Chicago Temple clocks in at three hours with an intermission, but flows so smoothly from locale to locale as to render textual excision all but impossible. The 12-member acting ensemble includes Anand Bhatt and Netta Walker as the youths caught between conflicting tribal identities, represented on the one hand, by Anish Jethmalani, Rasika Ranganathan, Alka Nayyar and Raj Bond as the Gargary household, and on the other, by Roderick Peeples and Linda Gillum as the Anglo-patrician Mr. Jaggers and Mrs. Havisham. Look for this ambitious project to continue on long after its immediate run."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...There are strong supporting turns in the large cast-primarily Anish Jethmalani's compassionate Joe, Netta Walker's chilly Estella and Linda Gillum's decrepit Miss Havisham-but Anand Bhatt's Pip spends too much of his character's arc in slackjawed bafflement to get our expectations too high."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...It's a three-hour treasure. Remy Bumppo/Silk Road Rising's replenished offering renews Dickens' social criticism through Gupta's cultural critique. If we didn't before, we know exactly whose shoulders had to carry the "white man's burden" for Victoria, Empress of India. Gupta may not exceed Expectations but she's sharpened Dickens' indictments and widened his compassion."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...What happens when a classic story, in fact, not just a classic, but a Dickens' classic, is transported in location? The classic is "Great Expectations" and Tanika Gupta has adapted this classic, moving it from England to India. She has used 90% of the actual dialogue, but as one who has seen this story many times, the transformation to another culture is quite effective. Adding to the specialness is that this is a joint production of two notable theater companies. Remy Bumppo ("think theatre") and Silk Road Rising (Middle East and Asian theater) have joined together to bring this work to the stage."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Tanika Gupta’s adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’ most popular novels is more of a reframing of the story than an actual rewrite. The playwright finds the similarities between Victorian England and British Raj India, especially in society’s treatment of class and race. Education and money play a big part in this story of good versus evil. Though a bit choppy and lengthy, especially in the second act, this production remains a worthy introduction to Dickens’ original masterpiece, but spiced up with Gupta’s own novel spin."
Patch - Highly Recommended
"...Just as Gupta wrote about the way Great Expectations had always resonated with her, Remy Bumppo's collaboration with Silk Road Rising enables them to capture the meaning of every line of the script and every moment in between. Despite the story's epic length, nothing is superfluous and nothing drags. On top of providing a multi-faced look at the British Empire's legacy of unequal cultural interactions, it is an exciting adventure and a moving character study."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...All of the cast members have what it takes to keep you engaged. Anish Jethmalani's great warmth fills the expanded role that Gupta's script seems to make for Joe Gargery. You gotta love that Linda Gillum stays in character during scene change blackouts in her ever so creepy rendition of Miss Havisham. It's in her final scene that Netta Walker as Estella is especially able to show her considerable acting chops. You too may think that you've seen Roderick Peeples (Jaggers) playing that so British solicitor before-and check the program, maybe you have! It strikes this writer that Magwitch's monologues and physical persona were not especially easy things to pull off--- but Hardaway does it seamlessly, as does Lane Anthony Flores as the almost morbidly cheerful Herbert Pocket."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Nick Sandys and Lavina Jadhwani’s co-direction evokes the spirit of Gupta’s adapted work; the characters’ inner turmoils are all given new intricacies developed on the foundation of Dickens’ classic story."
