Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...I'm happy "Becky Shaw," which is a really terrific and highly entertaining play, is enjoying a classy and well-crafted production so in sync with its spirit. It's a refreshingly independent and even intermittently anarchic kind of play — well removed from the group-think that sometimes afflicts the theater these days. It's wise, complex and really very moving. Funny, too."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Yet in the end, for all the real and manufactured shock, schlock and bitter truth serum dispensed in “Becky Shaw,” this is the sort of company you certainly would prefer to sidestep in real life, and might just find exhausting in its theatrical incarnation."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...You can sense the savagery implicit in the situation when Becky gets dropped into this group via a blind date. Yet, fresh off directing the silly jukebox musical Rock of Ages, Scott Weinstein seems to opt for Restoration over black comedy, pushing a highly competent cast toward meaninglessly mannered caricature."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...I have a granddaughter whose name is Rebecca Shaw! This may have made watching the current offering of Windy City Playhouse, “Becky Shaw” written by Gina Gionfriddo. This play deals with classes and people with deep secrets, although the title person is not , in fact, the central character. I saw this as a flaw in the story and the connection between the characters. In fact, the characters and the relationships between them get a bit confusing, despite the clever direction by the very talented Scott Weinstein."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...In this superb season opener for Windy City Playhouse we are treated to a play that will leave audiences breathless. Gina Gionfriddo’s comic drama takes contemporary values and turns them upside down. All of the characters are psychologically flawed in some way, but as each scene unfolds, the moral perspective of the piece begins to shift. Max, the financial whiz-kid, begins as a brash, bombastic young man, who masks his fear of emotional intimacy with sharp wit. Then he meets Becky, a needy, neurotic mess who’s learned how to use her misfortunes to prey upon others. Ultimately, and with great subtlety, the two trade places, each turning into someone else. But these character shifts come with biting humor and a price. We’re not witnessing a caterpillar become a butterfly; it’s more like watching the mating ritual of two predators who would probably eat their own young.'
Chicago On Stage - Recommended
"...Ultimately, perhaps Becky Shaw, a story about a date gone wrong that leads to a relationship with a woman who may be damaged or may be conning them all, reveals itself to be a story about truth and lies. "Sometimes lying is the most humane thing you can do," we are told, and when we examine this tale in which every character lies at some point or another, some a lot, the point becomes one worth pondering. It is echoed by a statement by Susan late in the play: truly knowing someone is a prescription for misery. Maybe the only thing that is at last sacred i life are the truths that we preserve by lies."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Becky Shaw is an uncomfortable and terrifying play. Its intricacies and range present a major challenge to its actors, one that every single one of them lives up to. While the end of the play is a bit confusing, it generally challenges us to think about the way that we live our lives and interact with one another. Becky Shaw is not for the faint of heart, nor for anyone wishing for an easy, fun comedy. But for anyone willing to truly think, it's worth attending."
