Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...This is a play about a sexual predator and his prey. One never doubts that. But Harrower also dares to look at all sides. And because he is willing to explore how the victim of such a crime must live with a complex stew of feelings—revolving around her own identity and a perverse longing for the man who caused such trauma—“Blackbird” ends up as a far deeper condemnation of such a selfish act than the typical two-dimensional treatments that have long dominated the dramatic depiction of this most disturbing of subjects."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...Harrower's language is alternately teasing and poetic -- at once real and stilted in that deftly passive-aggressive manner of David Mamet. On top of this, there is the writer's intriguing ability to capture real-time tension while simultaneously suggesting how it is so easily trumped by the far more potent, sensual time of memory. And then there is the way Harrower slyly recapitulates past behavior by creating similar actions and responses in the present moment. Certain aspects of character, he suggests, are rooted in our hard wiring."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Blackbird dissects pedophilia but also transcends that subject, finding universality in extreme circumstances. Anyone who's ever tried to revisit a failed relationship—a broken love affair, a marriage that ended in bitter divorce, a childhood with abusive parents—will understand the challenge Una and Ray face as they sort through the secrets and self-deceptions, trying to comprehend the past so they can move forward into the light of the dark black night."
Examiner
- Highly Recommended
"...People may flock to Blackbird on the strength of the marquee – CSI’s Bill Petersen stars. But they’ll leave shaken to the core by a character who bears no resemblance to Gil Grissom and a production directed to searing perfection by Dennis Zacek for the Victory Gardens Theater. There’s no doubt about guilt, or about the heinous nature of the crime at the broken heart of the story. This isn’t about a 20-year-old caught making out with a high school junior. It is about a 40-year-old man having sex multiple times over many months with a 12-year-old girl, the daughter of a friend."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...When they hear the words "child abuse," most people immediately envision the most repugnant atrocities their imaginations are capable of conjuring. David Harrower's microscopic exploration of a single incident and its two conspirators, their crimes classified within that label more by default than by definition, delves beneath the legal boundaries of their experience to expose complexities as varied as human individuality."
Chicago Free Press
- Highly Recommended
"...Victory Gardens’ artistic ensemble deserves immense credit for pulling off such a complex work. Under Dennis Zacek’s wise direction, William Petersen and Mattie Hawkinson deliver brave and haunting performances without succumbing to scenery-chewing: There are very few tears here, and very little shouting. Just two people, both fully human, trying to make sense of their past and discern their future. They take us, the audience, to uncomfortable places—and an 11th-hour surprise further muddies the emotional waters. All in all, it’s a challenging and rewarding production that nests in your psyche."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
"...Blackbird” runs a taut 70 minutes without an intermission, covering in real time the reunion between Ray and Una as they both try to reconstruct what happened 15 years ago, and why. It’s the Rashomon-type shifting of perspective that gives the play its fascination. The narrative is rooted in pedophilia, but it’s really about the elusive nature of memory and time."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...In Dean Taucher's detailed and intentionally mundane workplace set, believably cluttered with DJ Reed's props and Jesse Klug's appropriately harsh overhead industrial lighting, the realism of the performances punches you right in the gut with its emotional and physical authenticity. In the artistry of the creative team and in the realized intentions of its author to convince viewers to ponder and learn about a painful social issue, this is an example of live theatre at its highest level."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...It may be Petersen’s TV fame that had some performances of this Chicago premiere selling out before it opened. But audiences who come for Gil Grissom will leave Mattie Hawkinson fans—the depth and precision of her performance is nothing short of breathtaking."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Blackbird is tightly directed by Dennis Zacek, superbly acted by Petersen and Hawkinson, and intelligently written. Blackbird is one of the finest, most devastatingly powerful plays of 2009. It is nice to see a rich TV star come back to the stage and let it all out on the stage as William Petersen did in Blackbird. It is equally nice to see a star turn from Mattie Hawkinson. Blackbird is simply great theatre–don’t miss it!"
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...If intense drama is on your wish list when it comes to theater, then Victory Gardens Biograph Theater's current premiere, David Harrower's "Blackbird" is the perfect ticket for you."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Highly Recommended
"...William Peterson sucks the life out of his character to portray a beat-down Ray just fighting to get from day to day. Peterson’s ability to darken his emotions and stumble with the confidence to express himself is extraordinary. The choices Ray made in his past were absolutely wrong, but what was his motive? How did he let himself form a relationship with a twelve year old girl? William Peterson captures Ray’s inner struggle with the guilt of his actions and the justifications he believes means something."
