Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...It's a morbidly funny and sometimes wistful trip through the minds of women who paid the ultimate price for trusting the wrong man. And though it feels as if it spins its wheels a bit toward the end, Schwartz's shy Bessie, Reardon's willful Alice and Smith's aching Margaret leave a palpable impression as we watch their lives and dreams swirl away."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Signal Ensemble Theatre's "fantasia" on England's notorious George Joseph Smith murders—three brides dead in their bathtubs within weeks of marrying the bigamist swindler—dazzles at first. The brides emerge, gasping, drenched, from separate claw-foot tubs, the only items on Buck Blue’s netherworld steam-room set, then play catch with a bar of soap while describing a dozen women’s murder scenes. It's lyrical, disturbing, and tantalizingly indecipherable."
Gapers Block - Highly Recommended
"...Director Melanie Keller does a masterful job of choreographing the three wives, who are played with perfect timing, subtle gestures and accents as they change characters. From left to right in their tubs, they are Katherine Schwartz as Bessie, Anne Sheridan Smith as Margaret, and Meghan Reardon as Alice."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...One hundred years ago, the English serial killer George Joseph Smith was captured, convicted, and executed for the murders of three of his wives. Bessie Munday Williams, Alice Burnham Smith, and Margaret Lofty Lloyd had each been found, by Smith, drowned in a bathtub, leaving him with all their money, only a few days or hours after writing their wills. What is interesting about The Drowning Girls, a 2008 Canadian play being produced in the Midwest for the first time by Signal Ensemble, is that it is not a thriller, or a crime drama as we know them. Instead, it is a dark, but playful, recounting of the frame of mind each woman was in, as told by herself."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Director Melanie Keller does a wonderful job creating a balance between focusing on the tragic reality of the situation and allowing the light, in-love spirits of the women to shine. In a play that repeatedly shifts through reenactments of the lives of these women, Keller crafts incredibly clear and precise moments that keep the audience from confusing any details. Scenic designer Buck Blue provides Keller with a blank slate to play with: three tubs filled with water, three buckets, functioning shower heads, and a seemingly otherwise empty bathroom. I say seemingly because the work of props designer Christopher J Neville and the stage management team (Michelle Sellers and Brenna Schafer) has (waterproofed) props appearing from nowhere. Blue’s slightly off-white tile effect used to create the bathroom also provided lighting designer Michael C. Smith a nice canvas on which to work. Smith’s lighting aptly follows the ebb and flow of the characters, giving them bright and cheery support in happier times before sinking back into an otherworldly glow; the light reflecting on to the back wall of the set off the water in the tubs. Anthony Ingram’s sound design completes the eerie transformation as Keller combines all elements to frame this unnerving story."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This is one of those gems of a show that should not be missed; part history lesson, part tragedy, and part horror. All the elements come together for a special evening."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...THE DROWNING GIRLS is a unique experience. This is theatrical collaboration at its finest. The actors, writers, director, designers create an imaginative and evocative memory. The show is unforgettable."
