Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Manual Cinema considers itself a performance collective, design studio, and a film/video production company. Since their origin in 2010, they have lived up to that diverse mission, creating dozens of productions and shows for film, music, and theater, all of which combine their signature style of original scores, live action, and puppetry. Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol is the perfect setting to showcase their flexibility, storytelling, and creativity. It’s spine-tingling. It’s moving. It’s just what you need to loosen all that pent-up ire and open your heart a bit this holiday season."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Trying to describe a Manual Cinema show to someone who has never experienced it is like trying to describe tiramisu to someone who has never eaten dessert. A Manual Cinema multidisciplinary masterpiece seamlessly interweaves original live scores, actors, handcrafted props and sets and a signature technique of sophisticated shadow puppetry that uses multiple overhead projectors to create absolute theatrical magic. Their CoVid immersed updating of the Dicken’s classic tale of the real meaning of the holidays is no exception: this is an exquisitely crafted work of not to be missed theater."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Recommended
"...Surprisingly, this 70-minute story was so entertaining that I never thought back to the horrible days of Covid until writing this review. How painfully silent Christmas day felt, and how melancholy my soul felt when thinking of lost family and dear friends on Christmas Eve. I am glad the Manuel Cinema cared enough to share this remarkable shadow puppetry, Christmas Carol. It's an unforgettable and exhilarating holiday story."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"..."A Christmas Carol" is indeed a story that has been around for a long time. There are several film versions, stage versions, adaptations and even a sort of animated/paper puppet show called "Manuel Cinema's Christmas Carol" which is making a return visit to Writer's Theatre in Glencoe. This is a 70 minute that retells the story in a unique fashion."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Those familiar with A Christmas Carol may recognize this haunting line from the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Ghost takes Ebenezer Scrooge back in time, offering a window into the many Christmases of lost opportunities. As he expresses horror and heartbreak at witnessing his past, the ghost simply states this fact. These are shadows of what occurred in the past, but if he learns his lesson, the present and past could still change for the better."
Chicago Culture Authority - Highly Recommended
"...But the brilliant minds of Manual Cinema aren’t willing to memory-hole the worst days of 2020 and 2021, and we’re all the richer for it. Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol at Writers Theatre is the collective’s vehicle for facing the trauma head on and then, quite movingly, illuminating a hopeful personal transformation triggered by taking stock of what’s fundamentally important about human connection in the wake of all the death and isolation."
Evanston Roundtable - Highly Recommended
"...The classic characters, Scrooge and his ghosts of past, present and future are puppets – some one-dimensional black and white figures and some shadow puppets. Live puppeteers, somewhat foreboding in black robes and hoods, move puppets across a small puppet stage onto a large screen with a wizardry that is both technically amazing and emotionally moving."
