I, Cinna Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Recommended
"...The contemporary-styled piece, originally produced in 2012 by the Royal Shakespeare Company and originally designed to accompany a production of "Julius Caesar," is one in a series of works by the British playwright Tim Crouch dealing with minor Shakespearean characters (it's a companion piece of sorts to "I, Banquo," which Chi Shakes streamed last month). This one has an unusual interactive element, especially suitable for pandemic viewing: Cinna the lowercase poet asks his viewers to write their own poem while they watch. So you'll need paper and pen for his writing exercise. Or a digital device of your choice, not that he could have conceived of such a thing."
Around The Town Chicago- Recommended
"...One of the most terrific things about the show was watching Cinna's point-of-view in relation to the camera. By having him talk to the audience on his own personal video camera and into the camera on his laptop computer, we gain an additional perspective above and beyond the in-room camera design. Mike Tutaj deserves a lot of credit for accomplishing this feat, which personalizes the poet's experiences as he relates them to his audience. The living room set and properties design were perfectly appropriate. I loved the fact that the props indicated that we were in the midst of the current pandemic, with the mask and hand sanitizer on the floor; credit for such detail must go to Persephone Lawrence-Wescott, interim properties supervisor."
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
"...Tim Crouch's 2012 monologue I, Cinna (the poet) relates the plot of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar through the point of view of one such struggling artist, an extremely minor character whose entire appearance in that play is the mistaken identity that results in his brutal death at the hands of an out of control mob. Here, though, Crouch zooms in on this doomed minor poet (whom the mob kills not only due to his sharing a name with one of the conspirators but also, as one man cries out, for his "bad verses")."