Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Now at Northlight Theatre, the actor playing Drumm is John Mahoney, an uncompromising performer invariably willing to confront his own mortality and whose stage work in recent years (in both New York and Chicago) has come with an unassailable emotional poignancy. And so while “A Life” is an overly sentimental play (especially at its climax), Mahoney's defiantly unsentimental examination of a man faced with death seems to come at such a personal cost to this remarkable actor, and BJ Jones' production comes with the requisite kick to the gut."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...kudos to director BJ Jones, who seems to have done something akin to "genetically engineered casting," and found actors whose physical resemblances over four decades suggest time-lapse photography. That Jones' cast (with their thick-as-clotted cream Irish accents) also happens to turn in splendid performances is even better."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Drumm defies pity, but in BJ Jones's production John Mahoney brings out sympathetic strains that work against the bleak humor of his acid lines. It's a crafty and intelligent staging of a piece that, like its main character, resists easy sentiment."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...the chief reason to see A Life is for the fine ensemble acting in this Northlight production, directed by B. J. Jones. The cast of younger and older veterans is extraordinary in depth and range, albeit it comes natural to John Mahoney and Bradley Armacost to play Irish. As the older Drumm, Mahoney is all starchy malice and grimacing ruefulness, a man who gave up his dreams decades ago. Tall and rail-erect in his buttoned-up three-piece suit, Mahoney's Drumm drinks but never is drunk, and finds neither pleasure nor escape in a drop taken."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"... “A Life” may seem wordy and low keyed compared to modern and more violent Irish plays by Martin McDonagh and his generation. There isn’t much physical action in “A Life” and occasionally the Irish accents present a problem. But the play is rich in its character revelations and the confrontation scenes, especially in the second act, crackle with drama. This is a fine adult play in the best sense of that much abused term."
Talkin Broadway - Somewhat Recommended
"...A Life is honest and genuine, both on the page and in this production. I'm finding it more satisfying to reflect upon than it was to watch, though, and I suspect this may be a piece of writing that is impossible to compellingly stage."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...
Jones’s production lends rueful weight to Leonard’s character sketch. A quartet of young actors—Joanne Dubach and Melanie Keller along with Belushi and Schwader—exude brash energy as they set up domestic arrangements that endure 40 years later. Mahoney certainly looks the part of a grimly surviving, intellectually inclined Irishman, his bespectacled visage a blend of Joyce and Beckett, even if his dyspepsia is played a little thick, muddying the edges of Desmond’s wit."
7DAYS - Highly Recommended
"...This is a sparkling production with an all star cast, both the veterans and the up and coming actors! The dialects ( Eva Breneman) are very realistic and the set by Jack Magaw is the perfect setting for bringing these two periods of their lives together. Desmond was a character in one of Leonard's earlier plays "Da" but only a secondary one. Leonard felt that there was more to this man and in "A Life" he truly proves this to be true. In the notes, we are told that the story has some basis of truth and mention of characters, were in fact real people in Dalkey Hill. These characters as written, directed and played in this production are indeed very real and could easily be someone you know's own little story."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...A Life is a character driven drama with outstanding performances, stinging dialogue that is darkly humorous and poignant. It is also a cautionary tale warning us that the power of words, especially insults can be devastating. John Mahoney’s wonderful performance makes A Life worth seeing."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...The late playwright introduced his bitter realist Desmond Drumm as a supporting character in his semi-autobiographical play "Da," and here he is promoted to lead status. The cynical, erudite Drumm is not an easy character to like, but he is certainly a recognizable presence who is hard to ignore. About a decade ago, I witnessed actor Daniel J. Travanti take on the role of Drumm in an Irish Repertory production at what is now the Upstairs Greenhouse Theater. It was one season after John Mahoney took on the Herculean role of James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey into Night" for the same company. Now Mahoney is starring in Northlight Theatre's production of "A Life" in a role that feels like a summation of a career playing cantankerous codgers on stage and screen."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...Everything ought to add up to a fine show at Northlight Theatre with its current production, Irish playwright Hugh Leonard’s 1979 drama, A Life: A world-renowned playwright … excellent performances from a skilled, high-powered cast, headed up by no less an actor than the acclaimed John Mahoney … careful staging from a seasoned director, BJ Jones. Yet it all adds up to a less-than-rewarding experience."
