Porno at The Side Project

Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended

"...Sean Graney's nasty, overly long and ultimately preposterous meditation on artistic compromise and sexual perversion. This show spends far more time concerned about human orifices and their violation than it does in creating an aesthetic world with the kind of consistency that might justify such a display."

Chicago Sun Times - Not Recommended

"...Graney is clearly very well aware that in "Porno," now in a self-directed premiere at the side project's new storefront, he was pushing things to the most outrageous limits for both his actors and the audience. In fact, he has plummeted over the edge. His work raises this essential question: When does replicating the very horrors you intend to criticize become every bit as soul-crushing an enterprise as the horrors themselves?"

Windy City Times - Not Recommended

"...The title might suggest something delightfully naughty or titillatingly raunchy. Porno is neither. Instead, it’s exhibit A for a talented young director who needs to be knocked down a peg or two, or to have his bottom spanked. Porno is a self-indulgent, pretentious mess with zero theatrical merit ( other than the very good performances, which are completely wasted in this atrocious audience assault). Stay far away."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Graney’s skewed wit is undeniable; David Lynch himself would be jealous of the second act’s opening moments, as the film’s ominous producer appears in a bunny costume. Porno nevertheless seems as much a symptom as a diagnosis of contemporary ills."