Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...In this production — which is richly and wittily designed by Jeff Kmiec — you get the feeling of being transported back to an era wherein many of the rules that now govern workplaces still were long in the future. But to their great collective credit, this Van Druten-and-Witt combo doesn't just show you sexism writ large, it reveals how much women were needed in an office that would fall apart immediately without them. Yes, even in 1931."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...This play shows Van Druten (a source, along with Christopher Isherwood, of the "Cabaret" story), as a master of the screwball comedy - but one with heart, depth, and a perfect understanding of how social class, financial insecurity and the preoccupations of the striver coalesce among desks and file folders. File "London Wall" alongside such other Griffin hits as "Men Should Weep" and "Flare Path."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Robin Witt's crisp, period-perfect production for Griffin Theatre Company is filled with sparkling performances, including smart, tangy work from Vanessa Greenway as the conscience of the piece. She plays the typing pool's senior member, whose age (35) and marital status (un-) is regarded by her peers as comparable to a leprosy diagnosis."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Even without two intermissions, three acts of low-key intrigue among commoners-this is no Downton Abbey-require more than mere quaint-and-cozy to sustain our interest. Fortunately, our production features an ensemble of detail-sensitive actors that articulates Kendra Thulin's dialects to the last vowel, attired in Rachel M. Sypniewski's museum-accurate wardrobe, while demonstrating a familiar dexterity with Jeff Kmiec's and Lee Moore's comfortably timeworn furnishings. The results make it a pity that Van Druten didn't write a sequel!"
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Griffin Theatre Company's 2014 unearthing of Men Should Weep, a bleak 1947 domestic drama by Scottish playwright Ena Lamont Stewart that had never been performed in Chicago, earned the company three Jeff Awards, including one for director Robin Witt. She successfully returns to Griffin with another obscurity from the British Isles, this 1931 workplace dramedy by English playwright John Van Druten, better known as the author of Bell, Book and Candle and I Am a Camera. Set in a small London law firm, the play centers on the office typists' pool at a moment when women were relatively new to the workforce."
Theatre By Numbers - Recommended
"...Director Robin Witt has assembled a knock out cast of incredibly funny women, all who abandon their dignity, naivety and sophistication and walk off with the play stuffed into their briefcases. Rochelle Therrien stands out as Pat, a graceful doe just beginning to realize her woodland is full of predators. Likewise, when Vanessa Greenway’s Miss Janus reduces resident lech Brewer to wordless discomfort it sent shockwaves through the audience."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...As we travel back to London in the 1930's, this time-warp play engrosses and entertains us with its honesty and heart. We care about these women. Once more, Griffin Theatre presents an outstanding night at the theatre!
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...London Wall certainly deserves a revival, especially one as strong as this. John Van Druten injects plenty of humor into a play that explores lives that are often overlooked, and were probably even more so back in the early 1930's. Though full of trenchant observations, it is Van Druten's compassion for his characters that makes us care about the world he wrote and encourages reflection about the world we live in today. Director Robin Witt guides her ensemble with clarity and empathy and the experienced cast, led by a show-stopping performance by Vanessa Greenway, capture a time long past but still familiar."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Keeping with their mission statement, Griffin Theatre has once again created a thoroughly entertaining evening of theatre by one of Britain’s unsung dramatic masters. This forgotten workplace melodrama is a classic. It was way ahead of its time when it was written and it remains a fascinating look at the way things were. As it follows four single, underpaid, professional women, working hard to make ends meet as stenographer/typists, this exceptional production sheds light on a bygone era. The play not only demonstrates how far we’ve come, it inspires audiences with wisdom, wit and compassion."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Aside from minimal quibbles regarding actors struggling with the language and characters coming off as one dimensional, I recommend attending London Wall. The story and characters may not come off as truly unique, but they manage too sustain interest nonetheless. And unfortunately, women struggling to earn a living wage and navigate unwanted advances in the workplace doesn’t come off as foreign as it should 85 years later."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Griffin Theatre creates a perfect microcosm of the pre-feminist age in London Wall, the 1931 John Van Druten play about the personal lives and work culture in a London law firm. Robin Witt directs a smart, sprightly trip into the past that manages to shine a light on the present as well."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The visual language sometimes offers imagery of interrogation or claustrophobia, reminiscent of wolves closing in around these women. It is at those moments of brutal perspective and empathy that "London Wall" becomes relevant. However, given how often Witt shorts her steps in moments of crisis, the play's representation of misogyny turns the audience into unthinking bullies of the 1930s."
