Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...As a police procedural, director Louis Contey's production unfurls with just the right sense of pacing and probably works best if you don't scrutinize the details too closely. A terrific push-pull dynamic is what keeps energy sharp between Tibbs and the police chief (a good ol' boy, nicely played by Joseph Wiens with a subtle, begrudging intelligence) and the cop Tibbs is partnered with (Drew Schad, as a young guy who doesn't necessarily share his co-workers' racism but whose respect for Tibbs only goes so far). It's a strong cast overall, particularly Steve Peebles and Glenn Fahlstrom in multiple roles, and Christopher Kriz's sound design of harmonica and cicadas helps conjure the setting (and humidity)."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Louis Contey with both heat and light, the cast of 10 is first-rate all around. Manny Buckley, who recently did such a fine job playing the White House butler in “Looking Over the President’s Shoulder” (at American Blues Theater), brings his innately patrician bearing and luminous good looks to bear on the role of Tibbs, whose forbearance in the face of a barrage of insults and humiliation registers with the greatest subtlety in his eyes and perfect posture. And Schad, with his open face and boyish demeanor, does an expert job of suggesting just how much he’d like to bond with Tibbs, while dealing with peer pressure."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...As the detective does his duty he puts his own life at risk, incurring the rage of local racists already on edge about civil rights "agitators" disrupting their way of life. Shattered Globe Theatre's production never quite captures the feeling of sultry tension the story demands, though Michael Stanfill's imaginative lighting design fills the intimate space with a palpable sense of mystery."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Depending on who's doing the guessing, the murder gets reenacted with different scenarios and alternating assassins. But, once solved, the crime seems less important than the crime solving. The unexpected collaboration between Tibbs and Gillespie is a candle in the darkness of homegrown hate. That something good emerges from this venomous village shows how hope fuels history. It helps that, wiser than these redneck throwbacks, Tibbs gives his would-be persecutors nothing to loathe. Believably and beautifully, his perverse refusal to justify their fear and ignorance shocks them into contemplating his humanity. Notwithstanding ten radically realistic performances, it's more than a theatrical pleasure to watch this miracle in the making."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...The redeeming factors in this presentation are that Tibbs investigates the Argo police themselves, eventually succeeds in penetrating the blue wall of silence, and that the ending is altered from the novel and movie to acknowledge the need to confront larger social forces head-on. That the more modern approach to institutional racism is present, but imperfectly jammed into an old-fashioned story, is the only thing about the production that could give someone pause. In every other regard, it’s an absorbing, evocative transfer of the film noir aesthetic to the stage."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...In the Heat of the Night, the 1967 film that went on to win a number of Academy Awards (including best picture) is something of a cultural touchstone, a resonant marker of the 1960s and racial upheaval in America. The movie spawned a few spin-offs and a television series, but nothing came close to the iconic movie. Shattered Globe Theatre is currently producing a stage adaptation of John Ball's novel, the original source material for the film. This adaptation, by Matt Pelfrey, hews a little more closely to the book, but is easily recognizable to anyone who has seen the film. Directed by Louis Contey, the production is capable, gamely acted and beautifully designed. But at most it serves as an accurate reflection of time and place, and does little to provoke thought about the current state of race relations in America today."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...In the capable hands of Shattered Globe Theatre, Matt Pelfrey’s adaptation of John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night remains a compelling mystery and uniquely theatrical adaption of a novel. Throughout the play shades of light and darkness (Michael Standfill) highlight the plays themes of race and epistemology with incredible subtlety, yet is the darknes and the sense of night which dominate indicating confusion, racism, crime, but also speaking to the power of the black Los Angelis Detective Virgil Tibbs (Manny Buckley) to solve a murder which the white detectives could not in the Jim Crow South."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...First, there is the play’s text, which is downright incendiary in its evocation of the pre-Civil Rights Act South. Simply, Matt Pelfrey’s adaption leaves nothing to the imagination. Words like “boy,” “colored,” and yes, “nigger,” are thrown about with startling fluidity and ease by the show’s white characters. Make no mistake, the Old South was a caste heat2system where African Americans could be murdered for something as minor as addressing a white person in an unflattering tone, and through the brutality of its language, Pelfrey’s play captures that ambience."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...The foundation of the production - Pelfrey's script - is rock-solid. But Contey's cast never fully captures either the heat or the darkness so crucial to the story. They deliver their lines and hit their marks, but there's little punch or momentum to the production. It's a middle-ground, by-the-numbers staging. Which is fine as far as things go. But this is a story that demands far more than middling competence. In the Heat of the Night should all but vibrate with fear and tension. The emotions should cut to the bone. The constant danger should hum like an overturned piano wire. None of that happens at Shattered Globe. Contey delivers a nicely told story, but that's about it."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...From start to finish, the show captures the attention, bringing audiences back to a time that is strangely reminiscent of our own. Though the overt and cartoonish bigotry of the past might be far harder to come by today, it lingers under the surface, coded in ways sinister and benign. In the Heat of the Night still has plenty to tell contemporary audiences."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Director Louis Contey’s “In the Heat of the Night” is intense and scary good. It keeps realistically playing the nighttime murder over and over with a new assailant/suspect each time. We flinch and cringe, particularly when we begin to imagine that the racially-related violence may originate from the police force itself. The art is pure noir but the reality is more modern and far darker."
