Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...But Bradshaw wants this to be David's crisis instead, and that's where things start to go off the rails. We go a journey of discovery with David, played by the talented Weisman with no subtlety whatsoever, as he asks his parents questions like whether they actually pay Mary and Elroy for their lifelong domestic services. But he's been living with slaves his whole life, for goodness sake, and there's no good reason offered (amnesia perhaps?) why he is choosing this moment to ask things he would clearly have known since he was a kid."
Chicago Sun Times - Not Recommended
"...An equal-opportunity insult machine, “Mary” should not only raise the hackles on the necks of blacks, white, gays, conservatives, liberals, Christians and any other easily labeled “group,” but it also should be taken as a personal insult to the intelligence of that most worthy of all congregations — the actors and playgoers who join hands in the theater in the name of enlightenment and entertainment."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...In the published version of Mary, the playwright specifies a "realistic manner." But director May Adrales, a frequent Bradshaw collaborator, doesn't always obey here. Dominated by a glowering ancestral portrait, Kevin Depinet's dining room set strikes the right stuffy note. But some of the performers, particularly Weisman and Bennett, sweat with the effort of conveying wackiness. That comes easier for Cindy McCain look-alike Barbara Garrick, whose tightly wound, self-awareness-free Dolores is a scream. Myra Lucretia Taylor is also effective in the difficult role of Mary, alternately winning our sympathy as the long-suffering servant and losing it as the fire-and-brimstone fanatic."
Examiner - Somewhat Recommended
"...Playwright Thomas Bradshaw may resist the label of provocateur, but his work insists otherwise. Mary, now getting its debut at the Goodman's Owen Theatre, seems calculated to provoke shock and heated debate as much as – perhaps more than – to entertain. Bradshaw succeeds in the shock and debate department, hitting a laundry list of hot-button issues centering on racism and bigotry. He succeeds somewhat in crafting a compelling drama - or at least he does until the final few scenes when Mary essentially stops being a play and morphs into a speech team exercise in designed-to-antagonize rhetoric."
Windy City Times - Not Recommended
"...If Bradshaw's goal is to stir controversy, debate and perhaps a fist-fight or two in the lobby, his adolescent diatribe may be counted a success. But in his zeal to jerk us around far harder than necessary, he leaves us no recovery time during which to contemplate what lessons may be found in unpleasant opinions articulated by actors grimly reciting ugly words as if through surgical masks. Yes, social issues reduced to Zap Comics-simplicity are provocative—but so is a pie in the eye."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The modern theater does not lack for plays about race and gender preference in American society. But even in this highly populated field Thomas Bradshaw’s “Mary” is something out of the ordinary. Viewers are advised to check their knee-jerk reactions to racism and homophobia at the door, especially viewers of a liberal persuasion. Bradshaw is going to shake you up big time."
Chicago Stage Review - Not Recommended
"...Mary is an ineffective example of shiny happy people behaving badly and a sophomoric attempt at social provocation. The problem with Mary is not that it is shocking. The problem is that it’s not."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...
Despite the fearless, all-in performances, Bradshaw and director Adrales seem unsure about the piece’s tone: Is this naturalism or absurdism? Some passages suggest the former, others the latter. The closing scenes, while cleverly subverting the audience’s presumed expectations, depart so radically from the form of what’s come before as to feel like they were written for another play. Mary leaves me eager to see more of Bradshaw’s work, but on its own it doesn’t do the trick."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...I have performance problems mainly from the over-the-top satirical tone that abruptly changes without foundation. Myra Lucretia Taylor as Mary and Alex Weisman as David gave strong performances. This show is designed to provoke audiences; too bad it doesn’t offer any resolution. The material is so inflammatory and the issues are so important that you may want to take in this show to stimulate more dialogue about racism and homophobia. Be warned that Mary will wind you up and that is a good thing. You may hate this show as I did -but you’ll be glad you experienced it. Let the arguments begin."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Bradshaw sets this toxic one-act in 1983 when AIDS was still a mysterious menace and Ronald Reagan was not. His provocation begins with gay lovers David (wide-eyed Alex Weisman) and Jonathan (sweet-faced Eddie Bennett)--ironically, their names borrowed from the Bible--who visit David’s home for Christmas. David is a closeted homosexual. Jonathan is less self-restricted and had previously slept with a friend who developed the new disease. David may be afraid to come out to his family but he doesn’t realize that he outed himself long ago. They’re just too repressed to react."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Director May Adrales adds a nice touch to the handling of the topice that are explored in this “discomforting comedy”. Yes, there are many comical moments in this play, some of these moments are when we laugh at the situation and the reaction by the outsider to this new experience; others are when we laugh at the silliness of how these people exressed themselves, not that long ago! Bradshaw deals with the slavery/servant situation, the gay situation, the erectile dysfunction situation that deals with prostate cancer and other topics that could be uncomfortable for many theater audience members. It is probable that only an African American playwright could have written and had this play produced as a white writer would be taken to task for the handling of the “Black characters”."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...The accolades that Bradshaw has received have been earned. Mary really is a thought-provoking and important piece of theatre. I just wish Bradshaw could have found a way to draft his ending so that it wouldn’t compromise the integrity of the characters. Still, the point is made. Just don’t expect to leave the Goodman feeling uplifted."
