An Apology For the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening presented by Theater Oobleck at Chopin Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...Regardless of your familiarity with the Faust legend -- of the man who sells his soul to the devil with disastrous results -- the piece stands on its own. More to the point, you might find it difficult to hear Faustus spew his litany of complaints without thinking of altogether different source material: Larry David."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Playwright Mickle Maher brilliantly turns the soul-bartering magician's bid for omniscience into a plea for meaning where there is none. In this Theater Oobleck production, the monologue is delivered by Colm O'Reilly, who looks and sounds like a shabby young Orson Welles as he conveys with mesmerizing intensity Faust's intellect, desperation, dissoluteness, and determination."

Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended

"...An Apology For the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, quite simply put, is one of the most incomparable undertakings that has graced the stage. You have a remarkable and brief opportunity to see this complete masterpiece. It will leave an impression on you for the rest of your life. Chicago is a city filled with magnificent missed opportunities; that is to say that you could see something every night of the year and still miss wonderful offerings. You have to acquiesce to this fact but I charge you NOT TO MISS this staggeringly confounding piece of work."

Gapers Block - Highly Recommended

"...O'Reilly immediately puts the audience at ease with his mastery of the part, easily overcoming what could become a very squirmy and distressing experience in lesser hands. Shapiro's command of Mephistopheles is not to be overlooked - he has no speaking lines, but must endure a diatribe that rivals anything doled out to an umpire, without once breaking his composed equilibrium."

Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Did we mention the play’s hilarious? O’Reilly, who created the role of Mephistopheles in Apology’s 1999 premiere, now plays Faustus to frantic perfection, utilizing his weathered baby face (here with comically dark circles under his eyes) to portray the quintessential academic, as frazzled as he is self-assured. His manic mocking of the silent, stone-still Mephistopheles (Shapiro)—the Donny to Faustus’s Dude—alone proves sidesplitting enough to make the evening unmissable."

Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended

"...More than enough magic abounds from O’Reilly’s performance. I don’t know how many have tired yet of critics comparing O’Reilly with Orson Welles. But where that comparison works in the play’s favor is in his ability to portray a genius utterly absorbed with his own self-importance. The darkness O’Reilly brings to the role doesn’t just lend gravity to Faustus’ outbursts, but creates with them an inexorably magnetic pull toward madness."