Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Overall this is, for sure, one of the most remarkable performances of the theatrical year. There's nothing pretentious about what Kane does (under the direction of Charles Newell), nor any sense of rhetorical pomposity. Crucially, it just feels like Kane — whose ravaged physical appearance is very different from his usual all-American charm — is spilling out the contents of his mind and heart, in service of some higher duty. Acting work at this level is often marked by a palpable unselfishness, a willingness to subjugate self to character and material, and that's exactly how it feels here. It is a masterpiece of acting — the clear high point of Kane's career to date — that should not be missed."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"... Before we engage in further discussion, let me get this out of the way: "An Iliad" is stellar theater. You will not find a more accomplished production in Chicago or otherwise. Under the sure-handed direction of Charles Newell, Court’s veteran artistic director, every aspect of the production positively exudes perfection. Expect this show to tour, to end up on Broadway (or near it), and to be praised universally."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"... Rarely is a one-person show so physically taxing, and Charles Newell’s direction keeps Kane in constant motion, capturing the chaos of the battlefield and forcing him to maintain a high level of energy. Todd Rosenthal’s expansive, multilevel set allows Kane maximum range of movement, and the monochromatic surroundings absorb Keith Parham’s lighting. Through color and intensity, the sewer walls become a reflection of the Poet’s transcendent story."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...The 90-minute tour de force for a single actor has already been staged in Seattle, Portland and Princeton and will land at the New York Theatre Workshop in February. It is still a work in progress, perhaps. But the Chicago performance is a singular achievement of memory, stamina and endurance by an actor frequently seen on Chicago’s stages, Timothy Edward Kane."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...As a theatrical experience, An Iliad delivers the power and passion of the saga. After all, Homer’s Iliad was meant to be experienced in a live performance. Timothy Edward Kane’s performance was truly one for the ages. You’d be hard pressed to find a more mesmerizing stage performance than Kane delivers here. Every actor needs to experience Kane’s work to see the skills necessary for a tour de force performance."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"... more than a tour-de-force of memorization and declamation, Poet’s feat, perfectly modulated and escalated by director Charles Newell, is a triumph of theater. Kane and Newell make us children again, bewitched by a bedtime story that’s all the more galvanic because it actually happened. As Kane restores the past to bloody eyewitness testimony, we see it happen as vividly as the multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster “Troy” ever allowed. But this is how “The Iliad” was meant to be heard, a bard binding us with deathless words, as contemporary as the next foolish war that we don’t resist. Iran, anyone?"
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Kane smoothly emotes both wife and husband in conversation. Later as Achille, he rants with a barbaric fury. In one unshakeable visual, an inconsolable Kane is screaming without any sound. The unforgettable image is my own personal war scar from this show. Kane’s intensity is woven through in otherwise matter-of-fact and often times very humorous recollection. Kane engages with his personable storytelling ability."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...What Kane does so magnificently in An Iliad is restore the blunt tragedy of war to a story that time and bad teachers have tamed into an impenetrable fantasy along the lines of dungeons and dragons. With spectacular physicality and quicksilver dazzling command of the emotional spectrum from manic elation to dead-eyed torpor, Kane commands ever last inch of the stage. He is one person with the presence of one hundred, and he makes this ancient, potentially dusty story as vivid as newly slaughtered troops and as immediate as an oncoming freight train."
