Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...“Anatomy of a Suicide” raises difficult questions about determinism and agency as they relate to generational trauma. The personal costs and moral complexities of bringing new life into this world are also at play, culminating in a key decision made by Bonnie toward the end. Again, the show manages to be tragic but not despairing, a delicate balance that’s especially important in any piece of art that addresses mental health. Mallory and team have done a beautiful job of making Birch’s thorny play bloom, and I’d encourage any fan of serious Chicago-style acting to see this production before its limited run ends."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...There is also a troubling biological determinism underpinning the premise of Birch’s play in its view of inherited trauma. But at the same time, thanks to Mallory’s largely adroit direction and the fearless performances of the cast (Pavela is particularly revelatory in balancing Carol’s interior disintegration and attempts at maintaining a facade of control), Anatomy of a Suicide is a bold work."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...To a theatre-lover, going to a first production from a theatre company is like being on a blind date. You don’t know what to expect. You’re slightly nervous, slightly apprehensive, slightly excited, but most of all, you’re slightly hopeful. Alice Birch’s Anatomy of a Suicide, now in performance at the Redtwist Theatre space on Bryn Mawr, is the first baby—yes, I’m mixing my metaphors; no, I do not care—of two companies, a collaboration between The Metal Shop Performance Lab and JunkHeart, and as debuts go, this one’s a doozy."
Around The Town Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...“Anatomy of a Suicide” by Alice Birch is in essence a good story, but it’s not told well. The tale is about three generations of women from the same family who have yielded to societal pressure regarding the way a woman is supposed to find fulfillment in life. In all three cases, marriage and having children turn out not to be the panacea that they might have hoped for. Not only does each woman experience disappointments but each has struggled with her own self-concept, which teeters between wanting to do what others think is necessary and appropriate versus listening to her gut about her own needs, wants, and desires."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...To say more about Alice Birch’s marvelous, moving drama, or this capable and creative cast, or even the incredibly talented unseen artists, like director Alex Mallory, whose collective work burns brightly in this production, would spoil the future theatergoer’s theatrical experience. My advice to prospective audiences is to go into this play knowing only what the title provides: this is an ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE. Let you, each intelligent and empathetic theatergoer, take it from there. Leave preconceived notions at the door. Give yourself over completely to this powerful and thought-provoking, incredibly immersive theatrical experience and you’ll be a different person when you leave the theatre."
Buzz Center Stage
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Perhaps surprisingly, Anatomy of a Suicide is not an overwhelmingly emotionally gripping play, nor is it horrifying. Instead, it vividly portrays the slow drip of suffering for Carol, a woman in the grip of depression, living always with suicidal tendencies. It also presents the impact of an intergenerational transference of Carol’s condition on her daughter and granddaughter. Written by British playwright Alice Birch and ably directed by Alex Mallory, it features Tatiana Pavela in the role of Carol, Taigé Lauren as her young adult daughter Anna, and Isabel Lee Roden as her granddaughter Bonnie."
Ben Kaye Words
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Alex Mallory, rather astoundingly, transliterates this sense of human reverberation off of the page and right into her production of Birch's Anatomy of a Suicide, here in a searing and melancholic staging with The Metal Shop Performance Lab and JunkHeart housed at Redtwist Theatre. Even in a show whose inherent structural gambit is a daunting feat of narrative interplay (three alternate timelines exist in overlapping scenes that are staged concurrently), Mallory leaps in head-first with her team. There are moments that they stumble, but they never falter. Their mission is steadfast, and they take it on together, nobly."
