Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...I laughed a little less than some, frankly. The very best farces create beguiling and increasingly bizarre worlds where complications pile on top of complications, revealing an array of sexual and social tensions. The trajectory here is flatter. And the terrain is interrupted by some character developments that aren’t the easiest to believe. Sherman’s characters tend to lurch from credible figures to complete wackos without a lot of notice or motivation. Just a prop or a costume choice. And the energy in Dennis Zacek’s genial and laid-back production is intermittent rather than volcanic."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The actors here are uniformly good, each playing to type but adding plenty of individual zest. Set designer John C. Stark's cutaway two-story house is picture perfect; so are Christine Pascual's costumes. But this is a small-screen satire perched on a theater stage."
Daily Herald
- Recommended
"...Relatively Close, a zany if bitter family comedy, is a metaphor for the Iraq war. That's what playwright James Sherman says, noting that both conflicts pit siblings against each other. Fortunately, here the bloodshed is emotional rather than literal."
SouthtownStar
- Highly Recommended
"...Whether one identifies with this dysfunctional family or not, "Relatively Close," in its world premiere at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, is a nonstop laugh riot. This comedy serves wildly outrageous moments and ridiculous situations that have one laughing out loud."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...James Sherman's domestic comedies, Relatively Close at least offers intimations of a third dimension. Expertly directed by Dennis Zacek, it's funnier than most of his plays, with a few jokes that come out of somewhere--like character, or circumstances--rather than the usual nowhere. But let's not get crazy. Sherman still depends on crude caricature to tell this tale in which the three middle-aged Levy sisters squabble over their dead parents' Michigan summer home."
Windy City Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Sherman's cadre of quirky characters for Relatively Close feels like mixed-and-matched oddball patches deliberately sewn together to clash. Instead of letting the comedy develop organically or pushing it be a breakneck farce to match John C. Stark's handsome two-tier multiple bedroom set, Sherman's formulaic construction feels like a set-up."
EpochTimes
- Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Artistic Director Dennis Zacek with a cast that is sheer perfection, this two hour 10 minute play is filled with laughs from start to finish. There are moments where we get into their minds and souls, but for the better part of the play the audience cannot help but laugh out loud."
Copley News Service
- Recommended
"...Say what you will about the quality of the play, the Victory Gardens production is terrific. All seven actors nail their unsympathetic or oddballcharacters. Penny Slusher is marvelously detestable as Jan and Usman Ally is superb as her unctuous Persian husband.Laura T. Fisher is such a warm and sympathetic actress that she endows thepromiscuous Beth with a humanity that sometimes seems out of place within this menagerie of caricatures. As her husband, Dexter Zollicoffer is just right as the smarmy academic."
HollywoodChicago.com
- Somewhat Recommended
"...After this somewhat ambiguous and underdeveloped central plot point gets established, the next two hours of the show run amok with stereotypical sisterly grudges, paper-thin jokes and inter-family affairs. Even the setup of the family is formulaic: a Jewish family who spends more time in therapy than it does at Shabbat dinner. Woody Allen made that work with wit."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...James Sherman knows his way around a one-liner. Like Beau Jest, the biggest hit of the 11 previous plays he’s premiered under Zacek’s direction at Victory Gardens, Relatively Close is built largely out of zingers and snappy comebacks. Some of them are pretty good; many are groan-inducing."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...See this funny, excellent written, and beautifully stage (fabulous multi-room, two level set by John C. Stark) family comedy to find out. You’ll be delighted and pleased—and you’ll laugh often along the way. Wendi Weber and David Gonzalez offer truthful performances. James Sherman lives up to his “ Neil Simon of Lincoln Avenue” reputation with Relatively Close."
