Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Chicago's own Levi Holloway has established himself as a leader in the horror-theater genre - yes, it's a thing. But what's great about "Paranormal Activity" - the U.S. premiere now at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and soon headed to Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Francisco - is that this genre specialist has been paired with Felix Barrett. Barrett is the immersive maestro of the British company Punchdrunk and an artist demonstrably skilled in making audiences feel like they have been trapped in a pitch black room with a demon and cannot get out."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...The stage show has been created by Chicago playwright and Red Orchid Theater ensemble member Levi Holloway (“The Grey House,” “Turret”) and British director Felix Barrett, whose company Punchdrunk has become known for staging “immersive” works in non-traditional spaces. His “Macbeth”-inspired “Sleep No More” played at a hotel in New York for 14 years before closing earlier this past January."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Felix Barrett, Holloway's perfectly paced reimagining of a schlocky movie is-sometimes literally-a scream. And frankly, it feels cathartic to scream at paranormal menaces instead of regular human menaces for a change."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Levi Holloway took on the nearly impossible task of writing an original story for stage based on Paramount Pictures' film franchise. The challenge of adapting found-footage horror for stage seems daunting, but I'm pleased to say he is very successful in writing something that feels like a worthy homage to the first Paranormal Activity. Holloway's Paranormal Activity follows Lou (Cher Álvarez) and her husband James (Patrick Heusinger) as they settle into their new London home, an escape from their creepy apartment in Chicago. James soon learns what Lou already knows: It wasn't the apartment that was haunted. It's Lou."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...The new play Paranormal Activity at Chicago Shakespeare’s Yard Theatre is an adrenaline jolt of a production that is absolutely perfect as Chicago plunges into the dark season on so many levels. Loosely based on the indie film and subsequent film franchise, this collaboration between Chicago's Levy Holloway, who wrote and restaged the show, and the UK’s Felix Barrett (of Sleep No More fame) is a jump out of your seat evening of a domestic nightmare."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews
- Highly Recommended
"...Paranormal Activity, A New Story Live on stage at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, devilishly brings its audience back into the trepidations of witnessing the presence of the dead. Written by playwright Levi Holloway (known for Grey House), Holloway wants the audience to know that it's not a retelling of the 2007 movie, which recreated the fear and suspense of found-footage films, but a new, original story reimaged through theatrical illusions and immersive diversion, set within the world of the terrifying film franchise. Still, the similarities existed, as both centered on a young couple terrorized by an evil presence in their home."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...It’s easy to see how the movies can use sound and shock to scare the audience, but how can a live theater production do the same? Paranormal Activity playing at Chicago Shakes does just that and more! From the moment you enter the auditorium you may or may not notice that the scene is being set for the frightful moments to come."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...This North American premiere was produced by Chicago Shakespeare. See it now before it hits Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC later this season. My advice is twofold: purchase your tickets now, before the entire run is sold out; and I’d recommend selecting seats at least ten rows from stage, so you can see everything clearly (the upper floor of the stage setting is obstructed for patrons sitting in the front rows). This unbelievably frightening play and Chicago’s most terrifying production will absolutely convince theatergoers of one thing: places aren’t haunted, people are!"
Buzz Center Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...With haunting stage magic and a story that takes no prisoners, Paranormal Activity is not just a play - this is an event. Fans of the horror genre will not be disappointed. This is an experience that keeps you guessing from the moment the curtain rises to the last glimmer of light at its conclusion."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is like sitting -on the edge of your seat- through a haunted house. Everything you’re experiencing and feeling… heart-thumping, leg-shaking, breath-holding, gasp-shuddering is amplified by all these strangers in surround sound. It scared the bejeebies out of me… and that didn’t end at the curtain!"
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...The interior of the home they have moved into is beautifully rendered by Scenic Designer Fly Davis; it is close enough to the street to have frequent passing cars, effectively and a bit creepily depicted by rising and falling light alone, courtesy of Lighting Designer Anna Watson. It also has frequent deep, rumbling noises in its ducts and random very loud alarms and electrical failures (sound design by Gareth Fry) that startle and unnerve its new occupants. Fry is unafraid here to use every trick in his book, including total silence, to unnerve the audience as well. In addition to the cars, we don’t hear things like water running or toilets flushing, though we can hear the nearly constant rain whenever the door is open. (Fry also is unafraid of the other extreme: this play is full of loud, sudden sounds. The first one, near the beginning, is arguably far too loud. Many audience members, myself included, were covering their ears.)"
PicksInSix
- Highly Recommended
"...The Yard is thick with an eerie haze this Halloween season as “Paranormal Activity” settles in to spook Navy Pier patrons right out of their seats. Before the house lights dim, be sure to say a proper hello to your seatmates—you may find yourself gripping their hand before the night is over."
Chicago Culture Authority
- Highly Recommended
"...Paranormal Activity is great, spooky fun, perfect for an October date night. It's one of those shows where, when one character asks another one to do something, several members of the audience holler, "No!""
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...In a twisty, turn-y series of reversals a sense of horror is created, the ball of tricks passing among and between all the characters. Extremely clever use of lighting, eerie music, weird cranky sound effects all contribute to a sense of disorientation and disquiet. While supernatural ghostlike effects play havoc with on the audience sensibilities, there is also a quite brilliant development of a moral “karmic” underpinning, certainly not apparent in the genre per se.”"
Allie and the After Party
- Highly Recommended
"...A story that's in the same vein as the original movie, Chicago Shakes brings us a horror play just in time for Halloween. A couple newly moved to London finds they can't escape from the darkness from before and we experience many jump scares as we unpack their pasts and what may have caused this haunting."
BroadwayWorld
- Highly Recommended
"...This new PARANORMAL ACTIVITY play (based on Paramount Pictures’ PARANORMAL ACTIVITY horror films) has terrific stage effects and absolutely creeped me out. While I’m decidedly not a horror fan (in fact, I actively avoid the genre), this production captures that “edge of your seat, what terrifying thing will emerge from the dark next” energy. Levi Holloway’s script itself is extremely light on plot and character development. Based on the merits of the script alone, there’s not much to recommend in the material. But it leaves plenty of room for creepy effects and terrifying stage surprises — and the inventive and frightful production is definitely the selling point!"
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...In time for Halloween, Chicago Shakespeare Theater makes horror more real still in “Paranormal Activity,” running through November 2, a stage adaptation of the hit film by Oren Peli. Directed by Felix Barrett, the play uses practical special effects, intense sound design and horror-trope-inspired lighting techniques to provide a sense of realism that is unmatchable in film. A new story by Levi Holloway, of a young couple who move to another country to escape the demons of their past, is a fresh take on the franchise, folding elements from the film into the story in ways that are surprising and unexpected."
