Witch Slap! presented by Babes With Blades at Raven Theatre

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Maureen Yasko's "violence design" is well plotted, but lost in a set that feels more like a Hobby Lobby discount bin. And while Kimberly Logan plays it cool as the Crone, not even the wizardry of a subtle performance can poof this show into something worth watching."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"...That's right-the grisly spectacle engendered by Cold War-era paranoia is presented as slapstick satire, replete with stuffed-toy felines attacking from the rafters, a length of rope converted into a snake and weighty tomes launching themselves off bookshelves. Maureen Yasko's fight design makes the most of the limited stage space, and the cast assembled by Delia Ford for this Babes With Blades production swaps vaudeville chat with precision timing to keep the repartee and reversals rolling forth right up to the last few minutes, when Goode's indecision over his cynical resolution transforms what begins as a lesson far more dark ( and much, much funnier ) than The Crucible into a shaggy-cat yarn that coasts to a halt when its teller runs out of steam. That said, a 100-minute comic romp (including intermission) that delivers 95 percent of its promise is still worthy of admission in these waning days of summer."

Theatre By Numbers - Somewhat Recommended

"...The fights within the piece weren’t up to the company’s normal standards, either. I went in excited by the fact that the combat was designed by Maureen Yasko, who I have enjoyed as a performer in past Babes shows. She is a very convincing fighter in her own right. However, her choreography didn’t sing to me. I had a hard time figuring out if it was the design or the execution. The fights all took place in that awkward range of speed that we often use in rehearsal to keep things overly safe while we’re learning the sequences. In my rehearsals, I would have called it about 50%. Some of the better fights were at about 75% of what I would consider show speed. Sadly, all of them were performed in a manner that made the moves seem raw, and not in a “gritty” kind of way, but an “unfinished” sort of way."

The Fourth Walsh - Somewhat Recommended

"...WITCH SLAP! is a potion needing to simmer more. It either should go more crass and aim to be a late night October treat. Or it could get more family-friendly and become fun children’s Halloween theatre. This current witches brew needs more salt or sugar."