Too Much Memory presented by SiNNERMAN Ensemble at The Side Project

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Anna Carini's Antigone--though blistering--is narcissistic and incoherent in her beliefs, which shifts sympathy to Howie Johnson's Creon, who, while clearly operating above his pay grade, at least has some idea why he's doing what he does. Anna Bahow's direction for Sinnerman Ensemble is precise--and adding a speech for Creon's usually silent wife, Eurydice, is a nice touch--but the piece as a whole lacks focus and urgency."

Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended

"...Director Anna Bahow keeps the entire cast onstage for the duration of the play, which is an effective reminder that this play is about bearing witness. Unfortunately, Reddin and Gibson's otherwise excellent script emphasizes a main difference between Antigone and Creon; Antigone had no choice but to bury her brother, but because Creon is in power, he had a choice in his actions. It's unfair to give Antigone a moral pass the other characters don't get, and it weakens the message to have the cast bear witness to a gesture rather than a statement. Especially for a play so insistent on speaking up and speaking out against injustice, this is a crucial misstep that mars an otherwise well-written script and effective performance."

Chicago Stage Review - Somewhat Recommended

"...Too Much Memory is an example of the theater company being more sophisticated and having more to offer than the material being presented. Despite the soap opera melodrama, this is an impressive and engaging effort. You just wish that the script lived up to the production as Too Much Memory delivers all of the tragedy of Antigone but none of the substance."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"... The young, spirited ensemble does a decent job with this overbaked script, but it’s at its best when enacting fragments of the actual tragedy. Johnson gives us a sympathetic Creon, trapped in the corridors of power, reluctantly going along with his foe’s martyrdom. Carini’s Antigone scowls with a moody authority, a rebel with the very particular cause of burying her brother. It’d be fascinating to see what they might do with the original play."

Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended

"...The Greek legend that recounts Antigone’s defiance of the tyrant Creon resonates through the centuries. It seems painfully real today because there’s nothing black-and-white about this conflict between anarchy versus order, justice versus law, and religion versus the state. Sophocles’ tragedy makes us see both sides (and sometimes switch them as we watch). Antigone is driven to bury her disgraced brother, a rebel against Creon’s Corinth, so that he may reach the afterlife–so much so that she will accept, and even welcome, martyrdom. Creon cannot permit this rebel to become, even in death, a rallying point for rebellion."