Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...Director Geoff Button’s intense but also laugh-filled production takes some time to find its footing (and the actors’ accents are all over the map, and sometimes off it). But it might well make you hear some of Pinter’s lines in a wholly new way (always a good sign), and it gets better and better as it goes along, delivering a genuine punch by the end. Things certainly do pick up with the arrival of Michaela Petro, a young actress with genuine star quality."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Geoff Button's staging for Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company isn't always as thrillingly volatile as it should be. Still, Michaela Petro conveys the right mix of tough and tarty as Ruth, while, as sardonic middle brother Lenny, the riveting Vance Smith applies a skill that's always useful in a Pinter play: making a remark about a cheese sandwich sound like a threat."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Whatever interpretation you impose on these events, there is no denying that this brand of up-close-and-nuanced interaction is tailor-made for the Angel Island loft (where it was produced during the resident Mary-Arrchie Theatre Company's second season in 1987). Director Geoff Button is likewise well-versed in the misanthropic culture of the English working classes—expertise contributing to clearly-defined characters with immediately discernible motives. But though the production comprises a veritable showcase for ensemble-oriented performance, what rivets our attention is the charismatic presence of Michaela Petro, rapidly becoming the storefront circuit's go-to actress for velvet-gloved viragos. From her first entrance, garbed demurely in a pink coat that—whattaya know?—happens to match the room's decor, we know that her swaggering adversaries will be soon brought to their knees."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...
Amanda Sweger’s set is exactingly rendered, with antiquated furniture and jagged wallpaper framing a missing wall in the entryway. Each scene ends with a blinding flash of light and sound, recalling the close of an episode of Lost. It’s almost as if the knowledge that Pinter is supposed to be “intense” has short-circuited much of the brutality in the script—it ends up seeming forced."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...If you ‘tune-in’ to Pinter’s subtly and watch for the nuances, facial gestures and other noon-verbals before and after the spoken word – you’ll become entranced into this compelling tale of lust, loneliness and sexual deprivation. It is a marvelous work of absurdist theatre deftly acted (especially by Vance Smith as Lenny and Michaela Perto as the sexy Ruth). Irony and ambiguity makes this work a master piece of theatre. After seeing this enigmatic play, you’ll be dissecting it for days."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Recommended
"...“The Homecoming” is a nicely done dark comedy. Director Geoff Button brings out all the guns for Mary Arrchie’s latest production, the main bullet being Pinter’s writing, which is why this production was so good. Not every aspect of this show was worthy however; there was a large problem on stage with the actors struggling with their English accents. A different approach should have been taken, probably starting with the fact that you should not drop your accent half way through the show."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Highly Recommended
"...There are numerous levels at which to enter this play. One is the simply thrilling entertainment of seeing social restrictions stripped away. What if people did and said what they wanted and felt at any given moment? We all know of families in which small battles are blown out of proportion – perhaps all too well. We also know of instances of jealousy and flirting played out amongst siblings and parents when an outside party, especially an attractive one, is brought into a home. Pinter has turned the volume up and shined a spotlight on these moments. Button and his cast excel at making the unrealistic dangerously truthful."
