Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...you are still getting a superbly acted version of one of most important English plays of the 20th Century. Helen Sadler, a young English-born actress who specializes in desperate creatures of the Off-Loop, is ideally cast as Jo. It’s a terrific performance—edgy without losing vulnerability, quirky yet grounded in recognizable truth. You find yourself aching for Jo to find happiness—either with her sailor (played with great veracity by Bryson Engelen) or her maybe-gay friend (the warm-centered Kevin Viol). And, of course, you want her to be rid of her mother."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...There is such a depth of understanding in this story, such a rich sense of what makes people tick -- and of how the failures, frailties and immaturity of a parent can be imprinted on the child -- that you can only marvel at Delaney's youthful insight. She seems to have experienced far more than most during her upbringing in the working-class milieu of Manchester -- a grimy remnant of England's Industrial Revolution."
Daily Herald
- Highly Recommended
"...There may be no company better suited to reviving the play than Shattered Globe Theatre, whose almost unrivaled ability to invigorate mid-century drama director Jeremy Wechsler reaffirms in his deftly cast and impeccably acted production."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Linda Reiter's abrasively charming as Jo's hardbitten yet terribly weak, alcoholic mum. Delaney's script itself charms against all odds as it depicts the grim circumstances of Jo's life. But eventually that marvelous script steps off into something that can't be mitigated by charm, and Jeremy Wechsler's staging fails to follow it there."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
".. Shattered Globe found a perfect match for Reiter’s Helen in the young English actress Helen Sadler, who delivers a breakout performance as the resourceful teenager bravely fighting battles no young woman who have to fight against a vile mother and an unyielding class system."
Centerstage
- Highly Recommended
"...Shattered Globe stages the play without a blemish. The British accents by all cast members hold true throughout, even being slightly incomprehensible at times, due to the use of Cockney slang (it helps that Ms. Sadler hails from Canterbury, England)."
Time Out Chicago
- Recommended
"...This is an actor’s play, and under Wechsler’s expert direction, the cast goes to town. As likable monster Helen, Reiter is marvelous, favorably comparable to Deanna Dunagan in August: Osage County. Rising actor Sadler continues her ascent as lost-girl Jo, doing beautifully nuanced, utterly believable work. And Viol’s sly underplaying of the enigmatic Geof keeps stealthy pace with both."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"... It is amazingly insightful play especially since it was written an 18 year old grammar school dropout. Director Jeremy Wechler allows the characterizations to be fully explored in this tight and emotionally powerful play."
