The Scullery Maid Reviews
Chicago Reader- Somewhat Recommended
"...This may not sound like the stuff of riveting theater-most of the first act is about making a cake that ultimately gets knocked onto the floor-but "kitchen humor" had a rich tradition in medieval drama; the boisterousness of cooks and lowly servants was thought to be an ideal foil for the lofty pinings of nobility. Miriam (a beautiful Lydia Hiller) is a Jewish scullery maid with a secret vendetta against the venturesome king. The confrontation between the two, who have more in common than either supposes, cuts across class boundaries, but has about all the excitement of watching water boil."
Windy City Times- Recommended
"...Audiences in countries whose leaders practice the transparency that ours do may find this type of conversational drama a bit on the dry side, but under the direction of Evan Jackson, Lydia Hiller and David Skvarla articulate their personae's manifesti with dignity befitting the solemnity of the topic and their physical confrontations with appropriately visceral vigor. Leslie Hull, George Ellison and Ann Marie Lewis likewise display an unprejudiced candor as commoners for whom idealism is costly, but pragmatism all too affordable."
The Fourth Walsh- Somewhat Recommended
"...The war is over. The plague is regressing. King Edward III (played by Dave Skvarla) has returned from the battlefield to face domestic disturbances in his castle. Playwright Joseph Zettlelmaier drops us into 1300s England where the kitchen staff is baking a cake for the royal homecoming. His play is a bit of an upstairs-downstairs-Masterpiece-Theatre-the-medieval-version."
Picture This Post- Recommended
"...THE SCULLERY MAID transports us to the 1300s and a different world where family ties and legacy are everything. The Edge Theater space begins to set the scene with medieval music playing upon entry. We see the stage set with gray stone walls that climb high around a kitchen with a log fire ready to prepare a feast."
NewCity Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"...There's a fuzziness of purpose here. The show isn't a history lesson, as the program includes no contextual commentary. Nor is it a moral fable, as nobody seems to learn anything, not even that killing for peace may not be the best idea. At a moment when we most need theater to speak truth to power, "The Scullery Maid" appears to endorse the message that power is truth and war is simply human nature and destiny. But if resistance to injustice is futile and hope is illusory, what's the point of artistic endeavor? In this play, we see the creative imagination turn against itself, to dispiriting effect."