Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...At times, you feel a bit like you are in a Hemingway 101 presentation, replete with cool vintage photographs, designed by Adam Flemming to flood the roof and walls of Kevin Depinet's richly toned set. At times the work struggles to stay in the present tense, and the marriage of the conversation with the audience and the complaints of the guy in the room next door, a guy with an aversion to gunshots and loud jazz, feel forced. Dramaturgically."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...McGrath's play tends to retreat to somewhat easy humor even when dealing with something as potentially significant as Hemingway's back pain; all that physical damage took its toll, after all. And although Hemingway himself might never have associated his own father's suicide with mental illness, that fact does beg a bit more of a contemporary twist (particularly given the recent spate of celebrity suicides), an exploration of how it may have driven both Hemingway's success and failures."
Daily Herald - Somewhat Recommended
"...The result is a Cliff's Notes version of Hemingway's life, right down to the inspiration behind such novels as "The Sun Also Rises," "A Farewell to Arms" and "The Old Man and the Sea.""
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Now Keach is back in what I guess we'll have to call Pamplona's second world premiere. On press night both he and his Hemingway came across like old leather, well worn but strong. McGrath's script, meanwhile, is merely serviceable."
Chicago On the Aisle - Somewhat Recommended
"...This production directed by Robert Falls, Goodman’s artistic director, is a revival of an aborted effort from spring 2017, when Keach became ill on opening night – after 11 preview performances – and the run had to be cancelled. It’s played on a spacious, handsomely detailed set designed by Kevin Depinet, with large-scale projections created by Adam Flemming, notably of Hemingway’s sundry wives and lovers. Keach, now 77, looked and sounded quite fit at the performance I attended. Director and actor apparently agreed to show Hemingway as a lion in the winter of his discontent, mellowed, if not defanged. He growls softly, in remembrance."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...We recommend doing a little research about PAMPLONA if you are not familiar with Hemingway’s writing or haven’t read The Sun Also Rises. This will provide you with more insight on how Keach performance brings to life this famous author and provide more enjoyment."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Keach is back, and he is wonderful! There is no question that his health is back to normal. In fact, he may be even stronger than he was in the past. As a survivor of a heart attack myself, I know that making certain changes have influenced my life-style changes, and I find that even five years later, I feel more youthful that prior to the incident that changed my life. The set (Kevin Depinet) has been on hold all these months and then reconstructed in the Goodman's Owen Theatre ( the smaller, black box venue) to resemble the hotel suite in the Gran Hotel La Perla, where Hemingway found solace and quiet as he wrote."
WTTW - Recommended
"...Staring down what must surely have been a frightening brush with mortality - in addition to a most dramatic version of the actor's nightmare - Keach has demonstrated impressive determination and fearlessness. And he is in top form. In fact, he is in far better form than the formulaic, by-the-numbers play by Jim McGrath that he is performing."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This well-researched play, beautifully crafted by Jim McGrath, sensitively directed by Robert Falls and gloriously performed by Stacy Keach is a honorable retrospective of this beloved, much-respected American writer. It's a highly acclaimed tour-de-force, not to be missed."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...Still, Keach, working with director Robert Falls, keeps us entertained. Adam Flemming’s film and projection designs add visual variety to basically a static play. Hemingway led a roller coaster life that ended in self-destruction. I would have liked to leave the theater knowing more about the writer’s inner workings. We get much of Hemingway’s bravado but not much of his inner life. On the other hand, how much insight and high drama can a viewer rightfully expect in 80 minutes? What we do get is good enough for a diverting short evening. Now that Keach is again in performing shape, let’s get him back in a classic worthy of his mettle. Prospero in “The Tempest” anyone?"
Third Coast Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...It's wonderful that Keach has recovered enough to bring Pamplona back to the Chicago stage; he remains a force as ever, and as the tension rises ever so much towards the end of our time together, his performance is both fierce and vulnerable. Though it's difficult to ever really engage with the stories he's sharing (does the "Show, don't tell" adage not apply on stage?), taken as a whole, Pamplona is an enjoyable enough night at the theater. At the very least, you'll head home and pick up whatever Hemingway you have tucked away on a shelf, hungry for vibrant, compelling stories directly from the man himself."
Chicago Theater and Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Stacy Keach is the consummate actor who totally wraps himself within the character he portrays so that audiences forget who the actor is and just see the character.Yes, actors are supposed to do that but so often when an actor portrays a celebrity you see an actor portraying a celebrity. In Pamplona at the Goodman Theatre you don’t see Keach, you see Ernest Hemingway."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Pamplona was a part of Goodman's 2017 lineup, but Keach suffered a mild heart attack on opening night and the show was postponed to this summer. Fortunately the actor is clearly in better health, as he proves during this dynamic and fascinating character study. No matter what your relationship to Ernest Hemingway's writing might be, you'll find Keach's portrayal to be eye-opening. Though he covers no truly new ground in this play-the historical record is tremendously clear-Keach and McGrath make the blunt-spoken, ultra-macho Hemingway into someone who is a joy to spend an evening with."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...The play, written by Jim McGrath and directed by Goodman Artistic Director Robert Falls, unfolds on October 11, 1959 as Hemingway is struggling to complete an article on bullfighting in Spain for Life magazine. The particular stumbling block that proves elusive for him is the roadmap for the story of his life, told often in Hemingway's own words in flashback - as they relate to his literary work and personal timeline - and with stunning projected images that evolve seamlessly throughout."
TotalTheater - Highly Recommended
"...Not only does Keach do so with energy undiminished, he navigates the contradictions of his persona's relentless pursuit of redemption through artistic productivity, whatever the cost (including four failed marriages, three wars, harassment by two governments and countless debilitating injuries), with introspective humor and insight to convey us on a journey through the fears and triumphs of the 20th-century author whose laconic tales of thrilling adventure continue to be copied globally by would-be scribblers to this day."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...In the end, Keach's unflagging performance makes Pamplona a worthwhile ticket, exemplifying the greatness of not only a Nobel Prize-winning author, but of an actor at the height of his career."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...This is a one-actor show of the highest order, with Keach giving us a well- developed portrait of the aging Nobel laureate, locked in a hotel room in the Spanish town made famous by the Festival of San Fermín, known as "the running of the bulls," and immortalized in his The Sun Also Rises, Scribner's, 1926. Over the course of 90 minutes, we hear tall tales pitched as reminiscence as he struggles with writer's block, which he blames on his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. "Nobody ever wrote a good thing after getting the Nobel"."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...While the play has its limitations, Stacy Keach's performance is like Hemingway himself: strong-willed, memorable, complicated. In the actor's voice we hear a hint of the force and confidence that made Hemingway an iconic figure. But in his pinched, unhappy mouth and anxious-angry eyes we see the cost of the fame that Hemingway pursued but came to hate."
