Juliet presented by Theatre Y at The Ready

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...The women reappear at odd times throughout the monologue, often on a hidden tier behind the audience. The shape of the seating makes it impossible to see all three of them at any one time, but the occasional wails of the infants make them an inescapable distraction. Meant, I suppose, as an evocation alternately of guardian angels and a kind of Greek chorus, they instead take focus away from the main performance. As does the bizarre decor and scene-setting. It is all unnecessary window-dressing for a piece whose words can carry a powerful message without any props needed."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Juliet uses a combination of Shakespearean phrases, from Romeo and Juliet and her own thoughts and speeches from being in a camp. This 80-minute production is gut wrenching and yet beautiful all at the same time. This new version of Juliet is directed by Kevin Smith, and he has really created a wonderful work of art. I can see why it has been extended till March 8th. Theatre "Y" has started a new moment,"

WTTW - Highly Recommended

"...Lorraine, a raven-haired beauty with a dancer's grace, clearly owns the role of Juliet, making it something of a bravura, wholly internalized aria. But the three mothers - Simina Contras, Gabrielle Cross and Tania Ramirez - are remarkable, too. And if the babies (Milan Campbell, Emmaline or Franklin Cross and Emma Xareni Musso) steal much of the applause during curtain calls, you will find it wholly justified."

Picture This Post - Recommended

"...The course of Visky’s poetic monologue gives Lorraine an opportunity to show her range in a confined setting. There are moments when Juliet is frantic with anxiety; it would be strange if there weren’t, but the play’s power comes from its honesty about the other moments. Juliet is ambivalent about her husband’s faith that got her sent to the gulag—she wonders if God is there at all, whether their conception of benevolence aligns enough to be meaningful. Much as she loves her husband, his religious advice is hard to follow or see the wisdom in. Her clearest memory of their show trial is that she’d never seen him with a shaved head before and hadn’t expected it to be that shape. It also occurs to her that their family love is the regime’s main leverage against them, and God’s as well. In which case, perhaps things aren’t totally out of her power."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...This perspective is not invalid, though it's a reduction instead of a distillation. As the third iteration of the show, maybe this angle was overdue, but as a first time viewer and general enthusiast of the company, "motherhood" without intersection or other vocabularies is, as a dramatic or thematic question, incomplete."