Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Losers concerns a middle-aged husband and wife whose once passionate marriage is ruined by the domineering presence of the woman's pious mother. A fine ensemble under Terry McCabe's direction skillfully negotiate Friel's lilting, long-phrased language, and "Losers" features some of the funniest physical comedy I've ever seen on a Chicago stage."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Brian Friel's 1968 Lovers recounts two tales of courtship: the first, ironically titled "Winners," introduces a pair of ill-met teenagers whose impending marriage is fortuitously prevented by their untimely deaths ( suicide pact, or homicide à deux? ) , while "Losers" is a comical look at a middle-aged couple whose marital accord is likewise thwarted by parental authority. ( At age 40, they still stifle the sounds of their snogging, lest their manipulative mum interrupt with pious disapproval. ) It's all enough to make you jump off a bridge, but the cast assembled by City Lit director Terry McCabe to portray our multiple generations of frustrated wooers delves the stubborn denial and stoical humor long serving Friel's real-life counterparts, sustaining our curiosity before the inevitable disappointment as the status quo reigns triumphant."
Centerstage - Recommended
"...This is a well-staged version of a play that hasn't been produced in Chicago since 1988, and the energetic performances by Gillespie and Brody especially ensure that no matter the fate of the lovers on stage, the audience is the real winner at this show."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...
In the second, less successful piece, “Losers,” a mature couple (Brody and Cain) start a relationship, but it gets derailed by the woman’s pious, invalid mother, who has no apparent motivation other than being a mean old bag. Where Friel is tender in “Winners,” he’s broad and a little coarse here—qualities underlined by McCabe, who has his cast go the standard colorful Irish route, all blarney and begorras."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Lovers is a fine early Friel work that aptly depicts Northern Ireland in the 1960′s where family and religion dominated society. We love these characters."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...In Terry McCabe’s terrific staging the young lovers couldn’t be more spontaneous, natural or characteristic, giggling or fuming as their quicksilver moods shift and clash. As if rehearsing all the years that they will not enjoy or regret together, they quarrel, brood, make up, wonder and hope with all the instant emotional deliverance of teenagers reveling in how different they are from everyone else, how much more meaningful their lives will be than those of their dull townsfolk, and how much happier their children will be than they were."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...Lovers concludes on a cynical note, with the characters’ failures overweighing their triumphs. City Lit’s production is able to escape that fate, with a second act that overcomes the missteps of the first to create an ultimately enjoyable evening of theatre."
