Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...In "Andy Warhol in Iran," a two-character play first seen last summer at the Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires and now in its Chicago premiere at the Northlight Theatre, the writer Brent Askari imagines a scenario wherein Warhol encounters a young Iranian revolutionary, Farhad (Hamid Dehghani) who plans to kidnap the famous face of pop art as a pawn who might be used for political purposes."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Brent Askari’s can’t-look-away drama “Andy Warhol in Iran” is set in Tehran, 1976. But there’s a stunning moment in the drama running through Feb. 19 at Skokie’s Northlight Theatre, when a portrait of Mahsa Amini — the 22-year-old Kurdish woman whose death last year in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” sparked the global Women Life Freedom movement — fills the projection screens mounted above the stage. Far from removing the audience from the world of Iran 47 years ago, Amini’s image underscores the play’s incisive, captivating exploration of Iranian history and how it’s been indelibly shaped by the world’s Western superpowers, namely the U.S. and Britain."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...The messy nexus of celebrity, politics, and personal trauma forms the spine for Brent Askari’s speculative two-character play, Andy Warhol in Iran, now receiving a scintillating production at Northlight under BJ Jones’s direction. As Reader contributor Jack Helbig wrote about in our winter arts preview issue, Northlight’s staging is one of two current plays riffing off real events in Warhol’s life in the Chicago area right now—the other is Vince Melocchi’s Andy Warhol’s Tomato, featuring a young Warhol (or “Warhola,” as he was then still known) at Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at College of DuPage."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...But with Andy Warhol in Iran, Brent Askari's 2022 drama now receiving its regional premiere courtesy of Northlight Theatre in Skokie, biographical details about the pop art icon are used to feed into something bigger. Andy Warhol in Iran aims to be a dramatic morality play by historically examining 20th century art, celebrity and geopolitical complications."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Andy Warhol in Iran by Brent Askari and directed by BJ Jones (also the Artistic Director at Northlight) brings a refreshing new look into Warhol's life, opening his eyes to the political world he often chooses to avoid. This play is educational and emotional and something that Americans should witness so we, too, can be open to the disparities that dehumanize people as immoral, overlooking their societal plight. "
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The play is a trip in political history regarding Iran and that period of time. Both of these men are unique in their goals and political beliefs. They are very different, and yet, very much alike. There is some mystery to this story and I will never divulge the outcome as it must be watched from start to finish for it to truly make sense. This is probably one of the best 81 minutes of theater you can have."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...If you see only one play this season, you are advised to head straight to Northlight Theatre for "Andy Warhol in Iran," a riveting, brilliantly imagined two-character work written by Brent Askari (a prolific playwright and actor of Persian-American heritage) and ideally directed by BJ Jones."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Everyone, it seems, including Farhad's group of Iranian extremists, wants, as Warhol predicted, their fifteen minutes of fame. In this entertaining and enlightening 70-minute dramedy we learn new information or are reminded about the details of Andy Warhol's life. There's kind of an "American Graffiti" conclusion to the play, in which the characters reveal what happened to both the artist and the Iranian rebel in the end. But the payoff is that, in addition to being a taut tale of suspense between a real-life American artist and a fictional Persian character, this entertaining play reminds us that beneath surface differences, we're all basically alike."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Rob Lindley as Warhol captures the artist exactly as he was seen in his public persona, somewhat vapid, seemingly desultory, with a passion for attaching to others’ fame, while amplifying his own. The script by Persian-American playwright Brent Askari gives a knowing monologue delivered with droll deadpan humor by Lindley, providing an entertaining overview of Warhol’s background and his work."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...Warhol’s adept skill and fascination with his subject’s uniqueness, that also nearly took his life, is a central theme of Northlight Theatre’s absorbing production of Brent Askari’s “Andy Warhol in Iran,” directed by Northlight’s Artistic Director BJ Jones. The byproduct of this fascinating piece is a broader understanding of who Warhol was as a person, told through monologues highlighted with fast-moving images that frame the fictional confrontation between Warhol, masterfully interpreted in a brilliant performance by Rob Lindley, and a young radical named Farhad, played superbly by Hamid Dehghami."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...Andy Warhol in Iran is one of the best productions of theater that I have seen in the past year. The story and script are meaningful and still relevant today. The two man cast give emotionally, powerful performances, leaving you mesmerized for the entire 70 minute duration of the play."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Rob Lindley as Warhol is an unwavering glimpse of a man oscillating around a jaded moral compass. Lindley captures the socially awkward nature of Warhol. He wasn’t a flamboyant attention-seeker; Warhol was the introverted artist who exhibited his talents best by staying on the sidelines. In contrast, as Farhad, Hamid Dehghani holds his passions close to his chest. Dehghani shows that even the strongest among us have fears about what lies ahead and his seething pain as someone watching his beloved homeland be tarnished is palpable from every corner of the theater."
