Mary's Wedding at First Folio Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...“Mary’s Wedding” isn’t designed as an epic disquisition on war and remembrance. But in its own quiet way, it reminds us of how much is lost when the charge to war begins — and how hard it can be for those left behind to make sense of it all and move on from the valley of death."

Daily Herald - Recommended

"...Massicotte's text for "Mary's Wedding" has structural issues, but his drive to share a significant piece of Canada's impact in World War I history is honorable. More significantly, "Mary's Wedding" serves as a potent reminder that the personal costs of war endure long after the final battle shots have been fired. That makes First Folio's production a fitting way to recall "the war to end all wars.""

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Yet there's something bloodless and dutiful about all this. Massicotte’s script is well-crafted and well-researched, but it's also oddly emotionally distant, even when the play takes us to one of the most horrifying battles of the Great War (Ypres, 1915). The performances also lack passion; Chrisler and Balogun feel more like mere friends than would-be lovers."

Around The Town Chicago - Recommended

"...Mary's Wedding is a play for people who want sentiment on a human scale. There are many other works that satirize and castigate the social forces that led to World War I. This one is about how people process loss and find meaning for themselves in forces beyond their control."

Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Sometimes a play becomes such a powerful and emotional experience that you don't want it to end. You are so caught up in the characters, the acting, the storytelling, that bringing it to closure, while necessary, is almost painful. This was my reaction to First Folio's Mary's Wedding, a "dream play" set during World War One about the deep love between its two characters and the war that tears them apart. Far beyond the tears on my cheeks at the end, this play moved me throughout with two powerful performances, outstanding direction, lovely technical elements, and a complex script that makes an aspiring playwright like myself quiver with jealousy."

NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...The script won several playwriting awards when it premiered in 2002 and it feels like a product of that time. Not because it's irrelevant, but because audiences are looking for something different in theater now than we were sixteen years ago. Audiences in 2018 are looking for something a little stronger."