Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...If this sounds like heady stuff, rest assured that there is comic relief, particularly from Ivan Vega's rascally manservant, Clarion, (who breaks the fourth wall and chats with audience members about the Bulls). But nearly everyone in the cast finds moments of majesty in the moralizing. The shimmering shades of gray in Calderon de la Barca's tale (personified by Tracy Otwell's amorphous set, Richard Norwood's shadowy lighting, and Gregor Mortis' sepulchral sound effects) offer a thoughtful rebuke to our own debased era of poll-driven sound bites and black-and-white instant judgments."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Calderon de la Barca's 1635 play is a fantastic reverie, but director Elizabeth Carlin-Metz mistakes it for high tragedy. Her actors spend most of this two-hour Vitalist Theatre show furrowing their brows and delivering their lines with all the emphatic anguish they can muster--which makes for neither tragedy nor reverie but plodding, unconvincing melodrama."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Life is a Dream demands a great deal from its audience. It demands that we pay attention to the details. It demands that we listen to rambling monologues of gorgeous words. It expects us to care about the contrived characters and follow the twists and turns of the peculiar story. Miraculously and marvelously, it commands our attention throughout the entire journey by realizing clarity to a script that could easily be lost in the mist of its own density. This is the third adaptation that I have seen of this play and by far the most complete and compelling. For the cast, crew and audience, Life is a Dream is a high maintenance play and this Vitalist Theatre production is wholeheartedly high yield. It is a challenge well worth the undertaking and a production well worth your time."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Vitalist’s stately, almost soporific production threatens to take the title too literally. Carlin-Metz arranges her scenes as series of static, carefully declaimed tableaus. While Dunckel plays the unlucky prince with a fervent, peevish duality, caught between nobility and resentful rage, the supporting cast rarely rises above competent portrayals. Still, this straightforward version conveys enough of the original’s unusual brilliance to awaken further interest in its too-seldom produced author."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Life Is A Dream is filled with grand, almost operatic, soliloquies and colorful speeches that are nimbly articulated by this terrific cast. Paul Dunckel exudes the rage, pathos and intensity of the bedeviled prince while Venessa Greenway is the charismatic Rosaura. The cast delivers the rich text with an honesty and heartfelt sincerity that is true to Calderon’s belief that humanity is fragile but without it we become beasts. A lesson we still struggle with today. Vitalist Theatre has mounted an artful, eloquent production of a 17th Century classic."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...
Despite the abundant text, the cast pulls off some strong poignant connections. As the Prince, Paul Dunckel (Segismundo) majestically transforms from victim to persecutor to nobleman. Dunckel delivers his extensive verse with self-actualized wonderment. His epiphanies seem organic to the moment. A passionate Vanessa Greenway (Rosaura) is delightful as the high-spirited woman on a mission. Caught between love and protocol, Gregory Isaac (Astolfo) is dashing as the seducer of ladies. Isaac charms with romantic confusion. Ivan Vega (Clarion) is hilarious poking fun of his dishonorable ways. In exquisite costumes selected by Rachel Sypneiwski, the cast is regally adorned in magnificent finery. The rich colors and texture make for a dreamy visual."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...The oddity of the play is the setting-Poland, and not Spain? At the time this play was written, Poland was at the center of the political conflicts and made more sense to use over Spain which was on the downslide and Calderon was of the opinion that those in power in Spain, might learn from his play and change their direction and re-examine what they were doing- thus, Poland, due to its power at the time and the same type of values seemed to be the proper way to make his point without causing any upheavals for his writing the same. This is not of great import to the play itself, but I felt that there should be some awareness to Spanish characters in a Polish story."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...You see the fervor best in Paul Dunckel’s unstoppable Segismundo, as intense and consistent a declaration of independence as any role requires. Without pushing any passion over the cliff, Dunckel stays on fire throughout. In contrast, Madrid St. Angelo finely calibrates Basilio’s divided consciousness between father and monarch. Vanessa Greenway is her own action figure as intrepid-because-scorned Rosaura, while, as aspirants to the Polish throne, Gregory Isaac and Lyndsay Rose Kane stamp the play’s rises and reversals with their own authentic reactions. BF Helman gives Segismundo’s keeper all the conflicts the situation warrants. Finally, Ivan Vega provides comic relief as a Sancho Panza-like servant with a common touch amid extraordinary events."
