Vigils at Goodman Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...Despite a fluid, expansive and generally well-acted production from director Kate Whoriskey, the piece remains internally confused and inconsistent. Even though the hyperarticulate Haidle boldly engages with provocative themes of life and loss, they're lightened with so much stylistic showiness and quirky humor that you resist their veracity."

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...Director Kate Whoriskey has neatly balanced the play's ruefulness and absurdity. And designer Walt Spangler ("King Lear") has devised a remarkable fractured set -- animated by sound and by John Boesche's brilliant projection tricks -- that makes it difficult to imagine how the play could exist without it."

SouthtownStar - Not Recommended

"...Everything about this work, even its very obvious metaphorical cracked walls with a hole in the ceiling, is so over-the-top forced that one can't take it seriously, nor can one laugh at it. I'm surprised that this very problematic work made it to the Goodman stage. As is, it is not ready for prime time."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"...Kate Whoriskey’s straightforward direction has Body, Soul, Wooer and Widow interacting as if they were four ordinary people hashing through issues of love and loss in a sitcom. “It’s hard for me to concentrate on my sexual technique when I know your dead husband is in here crying,” Wooer laments matter-of-factly at one point."

Chicago Free Press - Somewhat Recommended

"...Overly cute, “Vigils” is an aggressively metaphorical play by a 27-year-old writer who seems altogether too young to cover something as mature as unquenchable mourning. His uncertain comedy is driven more by wishful thinking than a hard look at real-life loss. At its best, however, “Vigils” offers a convincing look at the way that grief alters memory."

Time Out Chicago - Not Recommended

"...Watching trained stage performers try to make something theatrical out of a text (under)inspired by television is no rougher than seeing typical Goodman trimmings slathered on an empty new work while artful Gen-X dramatists, unafraid to write about contemporary American life as it’s actually lived (paging Will Eno, Christopher Shinn, Keith Bunin), have still scarcely entered Chicago city limits. Everybody’s loss."

ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended

"...I do understand the validity of mounting an unconventional play by a fresh new voice. Kudos to the Goodman Theatre for championing ambitious new plays like Vigils. You’ll either love it or hate it. I do believe some will cherish its boldness. I didn’t but I’m open to seeing more from Noah Haidle."