Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Adapted by Bo List and directed by Brian Pastor, City Lit's production cleverly uploads modern technology into ?apek's work, changing the elusive "magic substance" that brings robots to life with the real-life mystery of the inner workings of the "black box" that comprises AI reasoning. Though it's a bit long, this adaptation strips away much of the original's exploration of the greed and hubris of nations and corporations, and replaces that with slapstick humor, allowing the evolution of the robot's consciousness to take command."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Artificial intelligence or "automated ingenuity" (otherwise known as A.I.) takes center stage in the freely adapted science fiction play "R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)." Originally written in 1920 by the Czech playwright Karel ?apek (who, incidentally, coined the term robot-meaning servitude), the story has been taken to new heights by adaptor Bo List and director Brian Pastor. This world premiere production addresses the question of the day, namely: What can happen if A.I. goes rogue?"
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...This World Premiere of Bo List’s new adaptation of R.U.R. is a robust reboot. The result is much more entertaining and far more digestible than the original play. Director Brian Pastor has especially played up the comic element by guiding the actors who play human beings to be over-the-top, to go big or go home. In contrast, Pastor wisely tamps down the portrayal of the robots so that they actually come across as more humane and, thus, more appealing to the theatergoer. City Lit has once again put the polish on an old chestnut of a story that shouldn’t be lost to the past."
Buzz Center Stage
- Recommended
"...Riots of laughter greeted the City Lit Theater world premiere of "R.U.R. [Rossum's Universal Robots]" Wait. Could this be the same 1920 science fiction play by Czech Karel ?apek? His 1937 science fiction piece at Trap Door Theater "The White Plague" was a serious treatment of public reaction to a very AIDS-like disease seemed to anticipate current history. He was a serious writer, not a comedian."
Third Coast Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Will robots or humanoids some day rule the world? A play written 105 years ago predicts the rise of the robot over its human creators. You can see the clever, prescient adaptation of this play now at City Lit Theater in a new work by Bo List directed by Brian Pastor. The title (and its original title) is R.U.R. Rossum’s Universal Robots. The new version adapts the 1920 original by Karel ?apek, a Czech author and playwright."
Entertaining Chicago
- Recommended
"...R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) is a funny and cautionary tale about what could happen if robots began thinking for themselves. With the world premiere playing at City Lit Theater, all may not be well that ends well."
Chicago Theater and Arts
- Highly Recommended
"...If robots take over the world what will their relationship be to humans? Will it be a carefree utopia with happy automatons cheerfully laboring away while people enjoy a life of leisure or will the robots develop ideas and aspirations of their own, eventually viewing their human creators as archaic inferior predecessors, in-fact outdated models?"
MaraTapp.org
- Recommended
"...R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots) was written by Karel ?apek, a Czech author, playwright and journalist who invented the word "robot" for this play. His anti-fascist actions ran counter to the Nazis. Bo List, a playwright and director, "freely adapted" ?apek's play, and that version is now onstage at City Lit."
NewCity Chicago
- Not Recommended
"...I would guess that most audience members who go to see City Lit’s “freely adapted” version of “R.U.R.” are not intimately familiar with the original 1920 play, written by Czech playwright Karel Capek. These people may have difficulty understanding why I—as someone who does know and admire Capek’s dystopian drama about a robot uprising—would find this production, directed by City Lit executive artistic director Brian Pastor, so disappointing."
