Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...All shows need drive, but that’s especially true with this kind of complex epic. People these days are used to streaming shows like “The Last of Us” that never stop rushing and building to the next place and thing. That’s the competition for the theater these days. Time to face reality."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...“Describe the Night” is a dense, epic-sized work about the clashes among truth, art and power. It’s a fanciful mishmash of history, mythmaking, conspiracy theories, artful fiction and propaganda, told with a stylized mix of earnestness and humor."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...With propaganda and attacks on civil liberties and the very core of human rights growing every day here and elsewhere, Describe the Night comes at a very good time. If I've made it sound like a grim affair, that's neither entirely right nor entirely wrong. There is plenty of humor here, much of it courtesy of Peyankov's choleric intelligence man and Murphy's slyly ethereal teller of fortunes."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"..."Describe the Night", written by Rajiv Joseph and directed by Austin Pendleton, is convoluted in the best of all possible ways. The story revolves around the KGB and the bureaucracy of the former Soviet Union, as well as the Stasi (or state security service of East Germany) and other spy agencies throughout Eastern Europe. We witness how these agencies and the people who run them define the truth and perpetuate lies."
WTTW - Recommended
"...The women in this production are superb, as well, with Sally Murphy as Yevgenia (Babel’s wife who, feeling betrayed by the writer, emigrates to Paris); Caroline Neff as Mariya (the journalist who decades after Babel’s death unexpectedly becomes the recipient of the writer’s diary by way of a young Polish car rental salesman played by Jack Cain); and Charence Higgins as Urzula, the young woman briefly pursued by Vova, and who wants desperately to flee to the West."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This play, indeed, this whole production, is peppered with so many intricate characters and exciting, hard-to-forget moments. The much-welcome humor of this story comes as unexpectedly as the gut-wrenching brutality and terror. There are a few scenes especially difficult to watch and hard to forget: When Nikolai burns Isaac’s entire life of work; when Vovo terrorizes and torments Urzula as she’s trying to escape oppression; when Yevgenia and Isaac are reunited in a mental ward; and when an unspeakably gross soup is served and eaten by three of the characters. But Rajiv Joseph’s moving drama is three hours of superb performances, riveting storytelling and a profound examination of how truth is a lie, but lies are truth."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...“Describe the Night” at Steppenwolf is serious theater that is seriously entertaining. Intellectually challenging yet side-splittingly funny, it has sat with me for days after as I’ve puzzled over what it is telling us."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Describe the Night is complex and has a few narrative strands did not entirely cohere for this writer. But Rajiv Joseph’s overall message is so strong that theatergoers who want to understand how truth can be twisted, how goodness can be thwarted, should not miss this show."
BroadwayWorld - Recommended
"...Rajiv Joseph's DESCRIBE THE NIGHT, now in its Chicago premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, is a sprawling exploration of the blurring of fiction and fact, censorship, and the quest to preserve truth. In that vein of "truthiness," DESCRIBE THE NIGHT also brings fictional representations of historical figures and entirely fictional characters together. It's also a test of my (admitted lack of) knowledge about 90 years of Russian history; it was only AFTER seeing the play that I realized Jewish writer Isaac Babel, Russian secret police officer Nikolai, and his wife Yevegenia were in fact real people."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...“Describe the Night” is set in Steppenwolf’s new in-the-round theater, which makes the audience feel like it’s spying on the action. Collette Pollard’s simple set features a shiny black floor that mirrors the characters, elaborate chandeliers, that cartoonish file drawer, and a cage that rises through a trap door. There’s a chilliness to it all that reflects the feel of the story."
