Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...What is missing from this production is a real sense of the virtual world - the setting, by John Musial, is idyllic, but there isn't a real manifestation of the synthetic, the high-definition glow of perverse perfection - that was on view at Woolly Mammoth. The director of the Chicago premiere, Karen Kessler, has gone for a much simpler staging - which makes the acting more personal, I suppose, but the piece suffers from that lack of a sharp contrast between its worlds. Most plays are best in a highly intimate theater; I'm not sure that applies to this one."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...In A Red Orchid's production, a shadowy corporation called the Nether has enabled users to fulfill their fantasies in hyperrealistic digital "realms" without fear of consequence. Reclusive Web developer Sims (Guy Van Swearingen) is under arrest at the Nether for encouraging pedophilia in his private, quaintly Victorian paradise, the Hideaway. What plays out, in half the scenes, between plugged-in avatars at the Hideaway and, in the other half, between their human counterparts in Sims's interrogation chamber blurs all the boundaries between appearance and reality, questioning the effectiveness of laws when people live in a disembodied existence. Directed by A Red Orchid ensemble member Karen Kessler, the show is impeccably staged, and all of the performances are deeply moving."
Chicago On the Aisle - Recommended
"...As "The Nether" whirls toward its stunning conclusion, some raw truths push to the surface about the human condition - through that permeable, perhaps virtual, membrane that shields us from our untamed origins in the unconscious."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Much here recalls Hans Christian Andersen's still seminal fairy tale "The Emperor's Nightingale": There a mechanical simulation of the bird enchants a Chinese monarch until, nearing death, he sees-and, too late, values-the real nightingale that the fake one couldn't supplant. In the 21st century, it seems, the opposite may happen: We expect technology to be more than the art that improves on life: It should replace it. When that happens, no one who saw The Nether can possibly be surprised. Log in at your risk."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...The Nether contains powerfully disturbing performances by Guy Van Swearingen and Doug Vickers as the two weirdo who cherish The Hideaway. This play will shock and creep you as it gets you to worry about how technology will interact with human frailty. Will these virtual realities do more hard that entertain? And what is societies responsibility to police these powerful sensory immersion sites? This play, it'll shake up your world."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...This disturbing play isn’t for every taste. It will haunt audiences long after the climax, but it also raises many issues about our limitless imagination, especially as man continues to explore and plumb the internet. Jennifer Haley’s drama explores the premise that there’s no law governing the pretend world of the Nether, as long as no real person is involved in any virtual crimes. But what is not governed by law in this smarmy Wonderland might be disgusting and immoral to many of us. What we discover in this dark, gloomy adult play, enhanced by an imaginative scenic, sound and lighting design by John Musial, Joe Court and Mike Durst, is creepy and difficult to witness."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...The Nether is smartly written and plotted, although it fails to persuade us to feel any real human connection to any of its characters. I was impressed by the production that I saw last year at the InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia. The realm of the Nether is an ominous and chilling version of Second Life, which probably has the potential to be equally ominous and chilling if we let our virtual selves take over our so-far-real lives."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"..."The Nether" engages on several planes simultaneously, balancing itself like a finely tuned machine. A smart, edgy and essential play, it is a perfect fit for A Red Orchid, a company that is unafraid of ambiguity or artistic challenges. And we need that mentality now more than ever. For as this play proposes, we cannot know the world until we truly know ourselves."
