Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Newell's show is by no means a bust. All three of the main actors have resonant moments. The chorus — composed of such highly experienced actors as Kasey Alfonso, Jeanne T. Arrigo, Emjoy Gavino, Tania Richard, Adrienne Walker and Tracy Walsh, who also choreographs — has some beautifully sung passages. Christopher Donahue, who plays the Old Man at the start of the play, has gravitas, and there is a real life and accessibility to Jordan Brown's Achilles and Michael Huftile's Menelaus."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Agamemnon had earned Clytemnestra's wrath by sacrificing their firstborn daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess Artemis in order to assure fair winds for the invasion of Troy. Laid out on the chart, the whole thing looks so ridiculously absurd you've got to laugh. Get in close, though, and it's so bitterly absurd you can't help but weep."
Gapers Block - Recommended
"...Court Theatre portrays the story of Iphigenia in Aulis in a low-key, minimalist 90-minute staging, directed by Charles Newell. The translation by Nicholas Rudall is clear and straightforward, sometimes poetic. The language is enhanced by the perfect vocal cadences of all the actors and chorus members."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...While Greek tragedy can sometimes feel pedantic and melodramatic, Newell’s Iphigenia is anything but. By turns sardonic, optimistic, and witty, the play provides a fresh perspective on an age-old story."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Company founder Nicholas Rudall’s translation makes the story clear, but he insists it’s not an adaptation, and it includes many things that service scholarly interest more than drama. I really don’t care about the name of the river, or who grew up on which mountain. The same information is repeated many times, which could provide clarity or a recurring motif, but also gets annoying. Newell’s solution is always to have a character start running offstage, and then be stopped and have to come back several times. However, the staging of the last ten minutes is worth sitting through the earlier annoying moments. The show’s moral, that slitting a child’s throat on an altar sounds like a demonic command but really is no different than sending any kids off to war, is one you’ve probably heard before. But it helps to hear it again."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...The curious thing about Newell's Iphigenia is that it achieves powerful effects but for the wrong reasons. When, at the end, Agamemnon's daughter walks towards her death, it is the lighting, the chorus' eerie singing, and the loud sound that makes the theater's floor tremble that arouse our pity and fear-not the cruel inevitability of events. Some would call that use of spectacle manipulative. On the other hand, it is perhaps befitting that a play written by a man suspected by his contemporaries of being an atheist should not fly into the realm of the transcendent miraculous. But that so much potential fails to take sail-well, that is the tragedy."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Court Theatre is easily among the most technically accomplished companies in Chicago’s rich theatrical scene, and its staging of the Greek tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis” may be its most impressive achievement yet. Through John Culbert’s virtuosic lightning design, Jacqueline Firkins costumes, and especially Scott Davis’ scenic design, one feels as though they are truly transported back to the docks of Ancient Greece, where formidable ships and soldiers await the inevitable voyage to Troy."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...“Iphigenia in Aulis” is the first work in a Greek trilogy to be presented over a three year period at the Court, the following two plays being Aeschylus’s “Agamemnon” and Sophocles’s “Electra,” both plays better than the current drama. “Iphigenia in Aulis” does have many merits and the Court staging is enhanced by the acting from Montgomery and Barron. And the final moments will stun the audience. Still, the stylized ancient Greek manner goes against the grain of the more natural modern intervals. The visual concept probably works about as effectively as any and the central issue, the death of a bright young girl who deserves to live, will grab the audience with an immediacy that does not always carry over into other parts of the play."
