The Revenants Reviews
Chicago Reader- Recommended
"...Playwright Scott T. Barsotti and director Brad Akin have crafted a darkly comic but also genuinely engrossing study in claustrophobic horror, aided by a fine cast and a first-rate design team including Dan Stratton (set), John Kelly (lights), Rick Sims (sound), Aly Renee Aimidei and Ryan Oliver (the all-important gory makeup), and Scott Cummins (stage violence)."
Theatre By Numbers- Recommended
"...Holed up with a gun and rations, and only each other (and the moaning undead husks of their spouses) for company, Gary and Karen gradually descend into paranoia, alcoholism, despair, lust and hate all while clinging to hope of a legitimate escape. While Birnkrant and Zagoren ground the show, Johnson and D'Agostino rise to the considerable acting challenge of creating their characters with almost no (human) dialogue. Director Brad Akin and the zombie performers do an excellent job of preserving ambiguity on the question of whether they are mindless brutes as Gary asserts or trapped, altered human beings, as Karen hopes. This is more a character driven drama with horror elements than a tale which provokes much actual fear, but that's forgivable, because of its thoughtfulness and naturalistic, sympathetic performances."
The Fourth Walsh- Recommended
"...For the first half of the show, the fear factor was spine-chilling and neck-prickling. I was holding my breath and leaning forward in my chair. Then, the story shifts. The fear factor is more relationship oriented. Although Barsotti gives his horror tale more substance as his characters tackle the death-do-us-part vow, the scary elements dissipate. Bloodcurdling turns into stomach churning as the focus is less survival oriented and more ‘what happened to us?’ The anxiety is still present but the terror isn’t. And even though I have no experience interacting with zombies, I would describe some of the exchanges between the humans and zombies as unrealistic. Uh, ‘don’t try to hold hands with a zombie’ just seems like common knowledge. But, of course, I probably would have gone with ‘A’."
NewCity Chicago- Recommended
"...Still, with the mainstreamification of zombies in various media over the last several years (“The Walking Dead” on television, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “World War Z” in literature and film), “The Revenants” stands as an altogether entertaining entry into the theatrical zombie canon that even non-horror enthusiasts can enjoy. It’s not a bad romantic dramedy either."