Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Indeed, an audience member walking into "Hamlet" today comes with so many preconceptions, it's hard for him or her to separate previous conceits from the darn play. So there is perhaps greater meaning now in subtraction than addition, more value added (as the MBAs say) in intimate connection — clarifying, distilling and paring down. In those significant regards, Michael Halberstam's eminently watchable, closely held, cliche-resistant and well-spoken new production of the great tragedy, which stars Scott Parkinson in the title role and a veritable who's who of Chicago actors in supporting parts that make up the high-class company of 11, brings much to the table."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...To be sure, Halberstam’s production is a writer’s dream. The director has gathered together a group of actors for whom language has an almost alchemical quality. And they transform many of Shakespeare’s most familiar speeches into pure gold, consistently transfixing you with the active thought that propels their words."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The all-star cast’s interpretations are refreshing in their own ways. Michael Canavan’s Claudius is less craven than sorrowful about his betrayal of his brother, seemingly resigned to his eventual downfall even as he enjoys the crown. Shannon Cochran, in turn, is an unusually sympathetic Gertrude, appearing to fool herself about her new husband’s actions. Scott Parkinson’s sparky, sinewy Hamlet is a marvel, his impinging madness possibly equal parts feigned and fact, a kind of self-fulfilling fortune. Larry Yando and Timothy Edward Kane bring gravitas to the Ghost and Laertes, respectively. Only Liesel Matthews’s Ophelia falls short; though her performance would be solid in a lesser production, it feels halting and recitative amid her stellar cohorts."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...the director serves up a bloody good spin on Hamlet’s impulsive slaying of the man he cannot ignore behind the curtain, the prying, nattering, officious Polonius – done to a roundly pompous, slightly addled turn by Ross Lehman. Hamlet doesn’t just puncture Polonius through the drapery; he kills him thoroughly with the switch-blade shiv he frequently pulls from his pocket as he mulls the things he’s going to do to people."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...The production gains much from the intimacy of the Tudor Court stage, where the audience views the action at point blank range. Collette Pollard has designed an all-purpose setting dominated by a brick wall at the rear of the stage and a brick and masonry floor that combine to evoke the Elsinore castle, inside and out. David Hyman’s costume designs range from the historical to the contemporary without ever looking out of place or anachronistic. Sarah Hughey’s lighting design and Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design both make appropriate atmospheric contributions."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"... In this intimate setting, you can see the emotions: the guile, the rage, and the intensity in vivid detail – by looking straight into the eyes of each player. The atmosphere is intensified by Sarah Hughey’s lighting design and Mikhall Fiksel’s sound design. But ,ultimately what makes this Hamlet special is the remarkable shifting emotions and detailed nuanced acting but Scott Parkinson. He shows sides of the Danish Prince that few players can muster. Complexity is a breeze with Parkinson’s talent. He rendered the finest Hamlet this reviewer has ever witnessed! It is a remarkable acting achievement as it is enough to justify the trip to the North Shore to Glencoe."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"... “Hamlet” is a play that should be seen, not read, and to be able to see this fine cast in the intimate Writers’ Theatre makes it even more special. The fight scene in the third act was quite scary in that the swords are flying very near to the audience members in the first row ( David Wooley is the fight director or choreographer). This is the fastest 2 hours and 50 minutes of Shakespeare I have witnesses to date. The Production moves smoothly from start to end-three acts, two intermissions and one breathtaking evening of theater."
