Guardians presented by Mary-Arrchie Theatre at Angel Island Theater

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...Sick, sick, sick. And definitely not for the meek. But the Mary-Arrchie Theatre production of Peter Morris' "Guardians" - directed with steely minimalism by Arianna Soloway, and performed with total conviction and complete fearlessness by Adam Soule and Jaci Entwisle, is riveting in its perversity. And if it is any indication of what is to come as Mary-Arrchie moves through its 30th (and, as previously announced) final season, the company clearly has every intention of burning itself out in a blast of white hot fury."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...But unlike most work Mary-Arrchie has produced, it’s not very good. Morris fixates on superficial contours of huge issues—the responsibility of the press, the conflict between demands of conscience and military orders, the eroticization of debasement in interpersonal and international politics—like a disgruntled undergraduate who imagines he’s discovered them. Acoustic problems often make it difficult to hear what’s going on."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Ultimately, both of these alternating stories comes across as too facile, and taken together, too pleased with themselves. Morris, who is American but has lived and largely worked in England, shows his eagerness to indict aspects of both cultures. The soldier is painted as a scapegoat and, to some degree, a victim, but by the end of her story she’s indicting us: “While you was out at the movies, or looking at pictures of me on television, somebody broke into your country and stole it.” It’s a powerful and timely statement, but one you don’t quite believe coming from its speaker."

Stage and Cinema - Somewhat Recommended

"...Guardians does right to stir up trouble, reprising some nasty and unfinished business. But its false equivalency of fake and real pictures of crimes against humanity is too calculating to be as clever as Morris imagines. (Methinks he doth protest too much.) No question, the 21st century has seen liberty cheapened: It’s become a pretext for influence peddlers–in print or in power–to grab even more illegitimate authority. Despite a distractingly loud air conditioning unit, over some 100 minutes Soule and Entwisle work hard to go wrong. Sadly Morris’s “cock up” continues today. Our guardians have never made us less safe."

Around The Town Chicago - Recommended

"... Both actors give strong leads under Arianna Soloway’s direction whose blocking is also convincing, managing to maintain to retain narrative tension and bringing the audience into a relationship with what are essentially two characters whose stories never intersect. Instead, they are deliver their own stories in what are essentially separate, long, soliloquies."