Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...And despite the high-minded meditations on narrative and its discontents, this is still a House show, replete with the high-octane theatricality that they do best. From Melissa Torchia's inspired costumes to Joshua Horvath's immersive sound design to Mooney-Bullock's puppet creations (which include the titular "iron stag," reminiscent of Handspring's "War Horse"), "The Hammer Trinity" provides plenty of visual treats. The cast — especially Roberts' haunted Gadsden, Joey Steakley's vicious-yet-foppish "crownless" leader Henley Hawthorne, and Christopher Hainsworth's Kaelen Wayne, the story-loathing "virtue in selfishness" villain of "The Excelsior King" — deliver crowd-pleasing performances that thread the needle between cliche and archetype."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Even when sense and motivation feel lacking or arguments aren't exactly airtight, the script never stops supplying stuff to think about, while Allen, as director, pulls off one dazzling coup de theatre after another. Especially impressive are the battle scenes, which take place on land, at sea, and in the air, and are achieved with the help of toy models, Mooney-Bullock's gorgeous cloth-and-metal puppets, and Matt Hawkins's exhilarating fight choreography. Altogether it's a surprisingly short nine hours."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...More than seven hours are required to recount the chronicles in their entirety, but the individual plays—which should be viewed sequentially for optimum effect—are presented as standalone productions on special weekdays, while the weekend performances are spread over nine hours to allow for generous intermissions, ensuring that neither actors nor spectators need fear succumbing to hunger or fatigue. Skeptics wary of the time commitment may also dismiss any doubts as to the worthiness of their investment. ( Did I mention the maps pictured in the playbill, the thrilling action-puppetry, or Pulitzer-winning playwright Tracy Letts voicing the surly Obsidian? ) Anyway, where else will you find crowds cheering, waving, weeping and chanting, "Story save us all!" as they depart? For sure, it won't happen at a puny Netflix "marathon.""
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Better to go all in, and see the Hammer Trinity in its entirety at a Saturday or Sunday marathon performance. Parts one and two, The Iron Stag King and The Crownless King, have been somewhat revised since their debuts in 2012 and 2013 (click through the titles to read my original reviews), and some of the new cast members brought on board for the full endeavor bring their own new colors to the whole: William Dick, taking over for Cliff Chamberlain as manipulative storyteller Hap the Golden, gives his man more of a seedy undercurrent from the start, while Stangler’s Boy Scout demeanor and dark mane of curls only underline the Superman vibe in comparison to his blond-haired predecessor, Brandon Ruiter."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Even if you've already seen the first two installments of The Hammer Trinity, go and see the whole thing in one marathon performance on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a truly epic experience not to be missed! Otherwise, you can catch single shows (Part 3) and the odd double feature (Parts 1 and 2) on Friday nights."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Nathan Allen is to be commended for directing such a massive work. My understanding is that though the first two parts are basically remounts, they have been revised, and the transition to the third is seamless, displaying a remarkably consistent vision. While some technical failures in part one and Phillips’s injury are regrettable, Allen’s handling of the situation won over the audience, and created a unique feeling of solidarity between audience and performers in parts two and three. Other audiences will likely see understudy Aaron Latterell in the role of Wilke, and if he steps ups as ably as Matthews, they are in for a treat. The meta-theatricality of critiquing Campbell’s monomyth could seem pretentious in less talented and self-aware hands, not to mention nerdy even for theatre. But the company is so inviting, and the story so dynamic, that everything gels into an awesome theatrical experience."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...I had trouble sleeping the night I saw The Hammer Trinity. My mind was and still is wrapped in the detailed folds of this story. I am still piecing it together and have every intention of returning to share the experience with others. Suffice it to say, there are not enough stars in the sky or accolades in all the great halls of history to bestow upon The Hammer Trinity and all involved in its production. It is nothing short of a masterpiece."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The Hammer Trinity tries to do a lot, but it has the advantage of being a nine-hour play, and one in which (if one sees it in a single afternoon and evening, as I did, tension is successfully maintained to the point where one almost wishes it were longer which is quite a feat). Its main conceit is to mix European folk narratives and magic with the story of the American Republic and its ideological development."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...The whole Hammer Trinity is a play that embraces you. I have never been in an audience that has cheered so much, or been so of one accord (over nine hours no less) to the trials and triumphs of a cast of characters. Though the story be of an epic nature, we glom to it’s characters like family (just like family in fact; they drive us crazy, disappoint our hopes, break our hearts and we still rally ‘round them). It is a play that is interested first and foremost in telling a good story; as all theater ought to, but also challenges us to think about how we are beholden to our fellow creatures, and implores us not to fall into easy stories but to be righteous and just in all our dealings, personal and political. It goes above and beyond the call of duty to astonish us and encourage us, dozens of warm hands clasped around our own to consider our thoughts and feelings, the tales we tell and take part in, and be better people. A potent reminder that Story can “save us all,” so long as we trust in it."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...THE HAMMER TRINITY works beautifully together. The stories are engaging, individually and collectively. Then, there is this underlying philosophical life nugget that we are all in charge of our own story. It doesn't matter who we are told we are or the life someone tries to force on us, we need to live our own story. I love that overarching message. And I loved this play, all nine hours of it. Story Save Us All!"