Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended
"...Director Bries Vannon's production is sincerely meant and all four of the actors (Meredith Bell Alvarez is the bartender) have their moments. The two most successful performances are from Fenton, who has a certain handsome charm and, especially, from Braver, a young, new-to-Chicago actress with a great deal of sensuality, spunk and promise. But you don't ever believe the quartet is in the same world: Stearns' performance, for example, is far more amplified than that of his cast mates, who approach the text in mostly understated fashion — thick Texan accents notwithstanding."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...He wants significance on a Shepardian scale, only he hasn't got Shepardian chops. So the dialogue gets portentous, the backstory gets tricky, everybody and their bartender gets an earnest speech, and the Hunh? Factor goes up exponentially until you're stifling a incredulous laugh at the body on the barroom floor. Carolyn Braver is a bright spot as squeaky-voiced, tough Esme."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Tragedy recounts the fall from lofty heights but in this universe, the descent is from the curb to the gutter—or the grave. It takes a bare 90 minutes for everybody's plans to go awry, but director Bries Vannon refuses to hurry the dramatic action, instead allowing it to emerge as slowly and ominously as a sidewinder stretching in the sun. By encouraging us to savor each new twist in the Byzantine plot, Signal Ensemble company members Joseph Stearns and Meredith Bell Alvarez, along with guest players Rob Fenton and Carolyn Braver, gradually draw us into their personae's quest for a ticket out of soul-shriveling existential squalor. Starwatchers are advised to note especially Braver's nuanced performance as the enigmatic Esme. When a jailbait-pretty damsel shrugs, "You take what you get," her complicity in the fates of those willing to offer her things is a question that lingers in the mind."
Centerstage - Not Recommended
"... The staging, by director Bries Vannon is sloppy and lifeless, with little thought given to stage composition and seemingly vital beat shifts rushed through. The lighting by Mike Smith is effective, if at times a bit heavy-handed, but the set by Melania Lancy is little more than a pair of drab, grey walls and a bar. It does nothing to set the scene Thank the lord then for Carolyn Braver, whose Esme might actually be reason enough to see the show. Her work is seamless. Esme is not a character but a fully formed person. As Esme’s horrifying transformation from babe in the woods to deep-fried Lady Macbeth takes place, Braver seizes control from the so-called “princes’ and Braver makes the show her own. She is an example of theatre done right, stuck in a show that does most everything else wrong."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Esme and Jim have a stronger connection, with their brief early scenes capturing the intimacy that Act II lacks. Much of this is due to Fenton’s charming naïveté, later replaced by intense determination as Jim makes a chilling post-prison transformation. Fenton’s varied, engrossing performance keeps Jim grounded even as the script takes increasingly questionable turns."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...The only thing that kept me engaged was the strong performance by Joe Stearns as the evil Fritz. Stearns is an under rated character actor completely at home in comic or evil roles. Carolyn Braver is wonderfully mystifying as Esme and Rob Fenton plays pent up rage nicely. The acting carries the weak and unfocused script. Too bad these fine players had to endure such a convoluted script."
