Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...Ibsen fans would do well to head to Edgewater to see what Menendian has cooked up. This isn't revisionist Ibsen, but he has found a fresh, intriguing mix of comedy and complexity within the play's folds of velvet and deceit. Finally, Hedda is more than a pouting sourpuss, and you sort of get why these men are tripping over themselves to tangle with her dangerous beauty."
Examiner
- Somewhat Recommended
"...In tackling Hedda Gabler, Raven Theatre Co-Artistic Director Michael Menendian makes choices both ingeniously creative (the set) and solidly conventional (the overall staging). And while the ensemble is capable, there’s a crucial bit of miscasting that leaches the production of the pressure-cooker, loaded gun tension that should define it. The result? A Hedda that’s solid yet unextraordinary."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...Menendian has assembled a cast ready to immerse themselves in their archetypes: Mackenzie Kyle tempers Hedda's sullenly hostile egotism with a sympathetic vulnerability, especially in her scenes with Jon Steinhagen, who adds another weaselish villain to his resumé, playing the lecherous Judge Brack. Ian Novak and Symphony Sanders make the most of their one-dimensional roles as the boyish George Tesman and the nurturing Thea Elvsted, but Ian Paul Custer still needs to reconcile the contradictions motivating the macho-posturing, but secretly guilt-ridden, Eilert Lovborg. And look for Andrei Onegin's ingenious steamer-trunk scenic design to attract attention at awards time."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
"...The Raven production under Michael Menendian’s savvy directing uses a modern adaptation by the contemporary American playwright Jon Robin Baitz. The adaptation remains faithful to the spirit and narrative but smooths out some of Ibsen’s clunky (at least in translation) language and makes the dialogue more idiomatic to the modern ear."
The Urban Coaster
- Recommended
"...I recommend seeing this play because it brings the past to life. This was one of first plays to challenge the inequalities that thrived under the guise of a moral code and Raven Theatre pays an excellent homage to that. Yes, some of the characters seem a little two-dimensional and not all the situations speak to today’s plights, but it is none the less our past and for that it deserves to be remembered."
Edge
- Recommended
"...All told, Raven Theatre’s Hedda Gabler valiantly freshens up a classic with a bit of comic timing and some minor tweaks toward modernity that still honor the original. It is certainly worth taking in, almost as much for its production values as the acting."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Raven’s production enjoys the commanding presence of Kyle, witheringly self-assured and gleefully perverse. The various attentions of the play’s men—Lovborg’s dreamy passion, Tesman’s fawning abasement and the judge’s sleazy scheming—all seem understandable responses to Hedda’s frosty hauteur. Kyle doesn’t entirely sound the character’s formidable depths, however. Henry James described Hedda as “various and sinuous and graceful, complicated and natural,” but in this production, she remains a touch too malignantly bitchy. Part of the difficulty may be that, with the exception of Steinhagen’s magnificently unctuous judge, the supporting characters in this briskly paced production lack Hedda’s vivid presence."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Raven Theatre’s production values are first class. From Andrei Onegin’s Victorian opulent set complete with a box room to JoAnn Montemurro’s period perfect costumes, Hedda Gabler is paramount theatrical entertainment. Michael Menendian’s smart casting produced several fine performances besides the fabulous turn from Mackenzie Kyle. I particularly enjoyed Jon Steinhagen’s wicked Judge Brack and Ian Novak’s naively clueless George Tesman. Ibsen would have loved this production of Hedda Gabler. I know I did."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Henrik Ibsen's works are filled with strong women. There are some who say that he was a leader in the feminist movement with his characters. "Hedda Gabler" is such a woman, someone who might be classified as the ultimate socialite. In the Raven Theatre's current production, the adaptation of the story by Jon Robin Baitz surely takes a little different angle. Directed by Michael Menendan, this classic tale looks at this woman and what it is she really wants. The world she lives in is filled with control issues. Who is the master of whom?"
Chicago Theater Beat
- Highly Recommended
"...The pacing is fast; the lines tossed off so consistently, one would think Noel Coward constructed this Ibsen play. Best Comedic Moment goes to Ian Novak, for his pregnant pause and clueless response right after Lovborg, his intellectual rival, has thrown down the gauntlet. The deft and light direction rests on the foundation provided by Baitz’s meticulous adaptation."
