The Last Unicorn
Promethean Theatre Ensemble at City Lit Theater

Time Out Chicago- Recommended

"...Sean Campbell’s lights and Jeanne Jones’s costumes have a childlike, guileless simplicity. Their palettes are plain but striking: the stage bathed in red, a white rose standing in for a unicorn’s horn. As any good fantasy should, the designs, and the production, allow room for the audience’s imagination. Perhaps Promethean’s version could be a little shorter and darker, but it’s a charming jaunt that more than lives up to its source."
Read Full Review

Caitlin Montanye Parrish

NewCity Chicago- Not Recommended

"...The play, adapted by Ed Rutherford, aims for playful, with some punning and clever one-liners, but they fall flat under his own direction. One senses an underlying lack of control about the whole production; scenes combine dragging, stilted exchanges with sudden chaotic fights and sprints offstage. And when a troupe of unicorns—signified by actors wearing half-togas over black pants—come leaping out of the ocean (a yard of purple fabric) and pirouette in the air, it’s hard to muster the suspension of disbelief needed to feel any fairy tale magic."
Read Full Review

Monica Westin

Windy City Times- Recommended

"...The Promethean Theatre Ensemble's production has the tone right enough. Likewise, the imagination and the commitment. What it doesn't have is the money, making for a decidedly skimpy display of fairy dust and flower petals. But Ed Rutherford's adaptation faithfully chronicles its source's external action with an efficiency that brings the show home in a tidy two and a half hours. And, ironically, the stark barnlike scenic design, leotards-and-yardage costumes, and acting-class choreography facilitate, more than hinder, the plot's swift transitions over a wide range of locales..."
Read Full Review

Mary Shen Barnidge

Centerstage- Recommended

"...Allowances must be made when tailoring a story circumscribed only by the scope of a reader's imagination to fit the stage. Although "Unicorn" stretched over two hours, and certain scenes lacked punch, overall Ed Rutherford's adaptation was both imaginative and loyal. His neat excision of extraneous plot points honed the author's boundless vision without constraining it, bringing hidden themes into bold relief. Never condescending, the show was nonetheless appropriate for children as well as adults, those who have grown with the story, and those lucky enough to experience it for the first time."
Read Full Review

Sarah Terez Rosenblum

ChicagoCritic- Recommended

"...Promethean Theatre Ensemble delivered a special theatrical treat showing their stagecraft and creativity with The Last Unicorn. Ed Rutherford’s vision and passion for the material propels this production. Kudos to Ed and his cast for mounting a fine adult fable. This is imaginative theatre."

Tom Williams

Steadstyle Chicago- Not Recommended

"...I kept wondering who this work might appeal to. The 5-year-old boy in the audience I attended appeared bored and restless. He wasn't alone either. So were most of the adults, indicated by the smattering of polite but unenthusiastic applause the cast received at the long and merciful conclusion. I was unable to find a single redeeming character or performance with which to empathize. For all the creative ambitions of this company, the large cast simply had no energy to fuel the over-written script."
Read Full Review

Joe Stead