Hideous Progeny Reviews

Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended

"... Progeny accomplishes for the Romantics what Tom Stoppard did for Elizabethans in Shakespeare in Love but with more subtlety and fewer in-jokes for English majors. Over the course of four eventful days at Byron’s ostensibly quiet mountain retreat, Mary—with one baby on her hip and another on the way (a historical inaccuracy, but never mind)—spars with her dashing, dyspeptic host, discovers her idealistic mate has an unfeeling streak, and comes up with her story about the mad scientist and his love-starved monster. Dendinger’s principal subject is how writers transmute the messy raw materials of life into art; as the real-life Mary said, “Invention does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.”"

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...The play unfolds as a Victorian drawing room melodrama that finds the overlaying relationships between Bryon, Shelley, May and Claire becoming muddled. John Taflan plays Bryon as a insufferable louse, a bossy host, and a total hedonist. Why these folks put up with him is a mystery? Because of his talent, fame and social position? We see the co-dependence of these folks whose Romantic philosophy dictated finding love where you can. Byron and Shelley lived that ethic. Playwright Emily Dendinger aptly explorers that famous weekend of games and challenges. Once the cast projects her dialogue better and the pace gets tightened, Hideous Progeny will become terrific show. I’m confident those changes will be made so consider spending an evening with the poets."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended

"...Anders Jacobson and Judy Radovsky's splendid promenade setting is the perfect play pen for over-grown and over-educated children.  Sarah Ramos' sound design supplies the ideal mood for our "dark and stormy" literary tea party.  Laura B. Kollar's costumes need a pressing but otherwise maintain the period.  LiveWire Chicago has given those lovers of language among us some meaty food for thought.  I applaud their vision and commitment to new and adventurous work, and look forward to the many adventures yet un-traveled that lie ahead for them."

Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended

"...When you’re creating a work of historical fiction, the most important part lies in getting your history straight. Lacking grounding in its period and riddled with historical anachronisms that distract from the drama, LiveWire Chicago Theatre’s Hideous Progeny, a new play by Emily Dendinger now at Storefront Theater in the Loop, loses coherency."