Becky Nurse of Salem Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...“Becky Nurse” still is an interesting piece of writing (especially for Ruhl fans) and everyone in the cast has their moments. But Salem is a weird mess of potage and this show still needs to find some places to breathe and for the actors to connect."

Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...Directed by Ruhl’s collaborator of over 20 years (and fellow alum of Evanston’s Piven Theatre Workshop) Polly Noonan, “Becky Nurse” initially seems like an acidic, ruthlessly timely and relentlessly factual corrective to the lore that’s sprung up like a forest of romanticized, poisonous mushrooms around the 17th century Salem witch frenzy."

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...Some of Ruhl's plot points seem far-fetched; Becky, though clearly in a desperate situation, comes across as overly gullible in her dealings with a local witch (Rebecca Jordan). And several minor characters feel one-dimensional, due to both the writing and acting. But in the end, Ruhl's spiky heroine and her small but sweet circle of loved ones won me over in this supernaturally tinged family drama."

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...There's a play about the Salem witch trials playing in Chicago, and amazingly it's not Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Sarah Ruhl wanted a turn at telling the story but from a modern lens, folding in Trump's America and the opioid crisis. The resulting play is Becky Nurse of Salem which premiered off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theatre in December 2022. Now it's making it's Midwest debut with Shattered Globe Theatre."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended

"...Can I get an Amen! for a play that gives dignity to a central character who is single, working class and a grandmother with chronic pain? And let’s hear it for Chicago, a city brimming with journeywoman actors like Linda Reiter. And props also to the American theater for supporting the careers of original and prolific playwrights like Sarah Ruhl who write plays that center on complicated, everyday heroes like Becky Nurse. Shattered Globe Theatre chose an eerily timed moment for the Midwest Premiere of “Becky Nurse of Salem.”"

Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended

"...In a play whose title offers so much promise for an exciting historical Halloween tale, BECKY NURSE OF SALEM ultimately disappoints. The primary reason is that playwright Sarah Ruhl has ambitiously tried to overstuff her play with too many events and themes. As a result, the drama, which also offers some welcome, unexpected laughs, overwhelms the theatergoer with too many plot elements."

Buzz Center Stage - Recommended

"...While watching 'Becky Nurse of Salem' there really does seem like a lot going on, but it's after the play that you'll realize how masterfully Sarah Ruhl intertwines so many hot button issues. This is Ruhl's most serious work, and it also feels like her most urgent. Just like Arthur Miller, Ruhl bends the history of the Salem Witch Trials to serve her dire warning, and just like 'The Crucible' is an exciting exploration of where we've come from and where we're going. Unlike Miller though, Ruhl leaves us with optimism."

Third Coast Review - Recommended

"...Sarah Ruhl’s play, Becky Nurse of Salem, is a history lesson and a feminist reminder for 2024. The play being staged by Shattered Globe Theatre stars Chicago actor Linda Reiter as a woman beset by modern-day woes who seeks help from a bewitching source."

MaraTapp.org - Recommended

"...Conjure up an intense but touching comedy about the Salem witch trials that raises difficult issues and leaves you with much to think about. That is what Sarah Ruhl offers us in Becky Nurse of Salem, now in an engaging Midwest premiere at Shattered Globe. Her 2019 play is a response to the election of Donald Trump, a challenge to Arthur Miller's iconic The Crucible and much more. Like Ruhl's best works, it is deliciously complicated, as is life."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Miller at least pushes his characters and dramatic concept to their logical, tragic conclusion. “Becky Nurse”—well-played and well-staged as it is—hangs back in the second act, as though unsure of just what it wants to say about women and class and ageism and state power and the too many other topics the playwright has bitten off. It’s a play that negates itself, and the feeling it leaves behind isn’t catharsis, but rather frustration."