Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Fry's blank verse script demands actors who can handle heightened language with clarity, fluidity, and vitality, and Fred Anzevino's cast--featuring Layne Manzer and Jenny Lamb as the lovers--deliver on all counts. Aided by Theresa Hamm's charming costumes, their sharp comic timing and physical precision make this intimate coffeehouse production a delight."
Copley News Service
- Recommended
"... The Theo Ubique company mostly handles Fry’s verse flourishes with commendable felicity. The company proved it could handle classical comedy with its remarkable production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” So it’s not surprising that the theater could fill the stage with performers very comfortable with Fry’s elegant dialogue."
Centerstage
- Highly Recommended
"...When a director like Fred Anzevino feels a strong connection to a play, it is sure to be reflected in the quality of the production. And quality is exactly what this production is all about. With its bright, talented cast - many of them making their Theo Ubique debut - environmental staging and clearly commanded language, this poetic, romantic comedy sparkles with wit and humor while pondering matters of life and death."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...
Practically in our laps, cast members don’t have to be dialectically dexterous to the OBE degree to keep us compelled—though Anzevino’s cast is certainly quite skilled and roundly possessed of sharp comic timing. Layne Manzer imbues the soldier with a charming, world-weary swagger, while Jenny Lamb strikes the right note of frustrated reason as the “witch”; Drew Longo’s nicely underplayed turn as an addlepated chaplain stands out among the terrific supporting cast."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Peopled by a group of outrageous comic characters including the Devize family and a wacky Chaplain (Drew Longo), Burning is a stylized comic adventure filled with wit, sarcastic dialogue and much social commentary that plays out on several levels: as a funny romp and as a reflection on the world’s exhaustion and despair. The cast is superb and the staging flows nicely producing an engaging evening of stylistic theatre. Fry’s exquisite language is in good hands with this cast. Shakespeare lovers and those who enjoy sophisticated drollery will enjoy The Lady’s Not For Burning."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Recommended
"...The real alchemy is Fry’s consummate dialogue, a free flow of supple imagery and enraptured word play. Director Fred Anzevino, whose specialty is musicals and who in effect has one here (if language can sing), is wise to find equally earnest actors, as he did 12 years ago when he first kindled this script into a gorgeous blaze. That’s the reason I had to see it again. Handsome Layne Manzer handles Thomas’ coruscating lines with aplomb, despite some opening night mispronunciations. Looking as majestic as her situation is not, Jenny Lamb’s dignified Jennet breathes all the mystery of this magnificent and scientific visionary."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...This spoken “operetta” , as Fry called it, is an unusual little show, but under the careful eye of Anzevino who has assembled a quality cast, is a lot of fun ad a great diversion from some of the everyday things life brings us. Yet, it has a message or two contained in this fun 2 1/2 hours at The No Exit Cafe on Glenwood. It speaks to the human condition in wanting something that you can’t have, questioning what is life? What is death? What is class? Is it what you have or who you are? In watching this sterling production sitting in chairs that are of little comfort ( and padding) in very close quarters, where the actors ( who are also the wait-staff) move between the tables, I realized that the very being of The No Exit Cafe and Theoubique is that they can give us the quality of a large theater in a small space at an affordable price and are unique in what they do. I am sure that this troupe would love to have a larger venue and be able to do bigger productions, but the choice they made in being where they are and doing what they do was in fact the wise one with the exception of perhaps the chairs. Perhaps someone out there in the restaurant supply business, needs a write-off and would donate some tables and chairs- Chicago theater audiences who attend these shows would love you."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Somewhat Recommended
"...I’m not sure what instrument from the director’s toolbox could have been employed to help this play. There is little to no downtime between scenes, so there isn’t much that can be whittled away to shorten the piece. In the end, there’s a lot of talent at work here, and there is a lot of potential in the commentary, especially in the play’s first half. But as we stretch into the third act, our patience is tested, and we begin watching our watches rather than the stage."
