Kill the Old Torture Their Young
Steep Theatre

Chicago Tribune- Somewhat Recommended

"...There are a few moments that work, with Peter Moore deftly capturing what it means to go home and find nothing you know anymore. But where is the requisite musicality? Where are the stakes? This is a play about despair — about a city slipping away. That fall needs a sharper edge."
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Chris Jones

Time Out Chicago- Somewhat Recommended

"...Walsh’s staging is handsome; Dan Stratton’s modular set, appropriately sterile and drab, gracefully transforms into an impressive number of configurations. But her cast seems unusually at sea for a Steep production; the actors don’t seem to have found a core of truth within Harrower’s roughly sketched population, and his language sounds unnatural in their mouths. Even the normally dependable Peter Moore, as filmmaker Robert, doesn’t appear to know what to make of his arc. The characters’ actions are as haphazard as their encounters."
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Kris Vire

Chicago Reader- Somewhat Recommended

"...There are passages in Harrower's play that have a quiet, poetic intensity to them. But anyone looking for the moral complexity and emotional nuance of Blackbird will be disappointed. Dereck Garner's Rock Singer wears a T-shirt with an image of an ouroboros on it, and like the mythical serpent, Harrower's play spends too much time chasing its tail."
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Kerry Reid

Chicago Theater Blog- Somewhat Recommended

"... a few performances create interest. Jim Poole’s quiet and stirring portrayal of Steven stands out, as the manager who could film the city he loves better than Robert (Peter Moore), the famous documentarian hired to do the job. Nice moments are created between Robert and Heather (Julia Siple) in a hotel room together. Paul (Leonard Kraft) and Angela (Bronwen Prosser) make a realistic pair of lost souls, who will likely stay together even if one doesn’t know what to do about the other. James Allen’s chagrined Birdwatcher and Patricia Donegan’s random Woman in Robes add badly needed humor and spice to the proceedings."
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Paige Listerud

ChicagoCritic- Not Recommended

"... director Kathryn Walsh did nothing to breathe life into the script or fix the flaws. The play clocked in at less than two hours, but the lack of pace made it feel like four. The lengthy and superfluous scene changes did not help matters. Every actor was in his/her own play, none of which appeared to be three-dimensional. The one standout was the underused Patricia Donegan. The overall design was uninspired and did nothing for the production."

Chris Arnold