Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...This isn't the best show that Signal Ensemble has done. Not all companies get to pick the perfect swan song. But Ronan Marra's direction plays to the strengths I've seen over and over with the company, particularly in the confident interplay between the characters and the commitment to creating worlds just slightly askew of normal. (Ian Zywica's cream-and-white-striped set looks like a giant prescription drug and Julie E. Ballard's slightly sickish lighting design adds to the clammy-and-unwell atmosphere.) Schreck's play ends on a note that is downbeat and defiant — and that is a perfectly fine way for them to say goodbye."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...The Pygmalion-like story line never makes any real sense, nor does the fatalistic, perpetually late, pants-pissing designer ever feel worthy of saving. It's the rest of the recession-era setting that redeems: as the office glue, Courtney Jones conveys the strange, dependent, contentious relationship employees have with their work environment, hated or not. Ronan Marra's production finds value and beauty in getting shitcanned, no matter how unceremoniously. Good-byes don't get more noble or touching than that."
Theatre By Numbers - Somewhat Recommended
"...I feel bad for Signal Ensemble. They have had a solid run of doing good work. This isn't the way I'd want to see them end. If you have a warm spot in your heart for their past work, and respect the members of the ensemble, then you may want to take this show in to witness the skills of Begley, McCauley, and Courtney Jones in action. Otherwise, it may be best to remember the group as they were, rather than as they are now."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...Although I can respect Schreck's own view on her plays as questioning how one figures out how to live, her execution, at least here in The Consultant, lacks substantive food for thought. So, while Ronan Marra's directions does the most to capture every ounce of humor and pedestrian drama from the underdeveloped characters and desultory script, Signal's production of The Consultant only manages to provide us with a few good laughs and around 80-minutes of idle entertainment. But that's life, I suppose."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...Director Ronan Marra navigates us through these office politics. The talented ensemble become this group of colleagues. My favorite scene is when the confident Maggie Cain (Barbara) bursts into the reception area. She dazzles Begley with her newfound independence. The interaction is hysterical as Cain goads Begley to disclose an embarrassing childhood incident. Cain plays career guru perfectly. When she gives Begley her card to come to a seminar, I want to go too."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...No one really learns or grows in The Consultant, and the audience is left unchanged, not damaged or disturbed, but not enlightened either. Signal Ensemble Theater boasts a talented roster of actors, designers and directors, and an impressive tenure in the competitive Chicago theater scene. Hopefully, audiences will remember the company’s many successes, and not their fizzled final attempt."
