Sancho: An Act of Remembrance Reviews

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Born on a slave ship to a mother who died in childbirth and a father who committed suicide, raised by the Second Duke of Montagu (and eventually hired as valet to the First), accomplished man of letters, and the first black African to vote in Britain, Charles Ignatius Sancho surely has an amazing story. Unfortunately Royal Shakespeare Company member Paterson Joseph doesn't tell it in his lively one-man show, appearing in a limited run as part of the yearlong Shakespeare 400 Chicago. Instead he sprints through biographical highlights-pausing to sing one of Sancho's original songs or recite a monologue from a play Sancho performed-creating a sketchy portrait of the man and his virulently racist times."

ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended

"...It’s remarkable how Joseph nearly plays two characters: the younger, brasher, and older, wiser Sancho, and how he is equally convincing and magnetic as each. The real Charles Ignatius Sancho was hobbled in his acting career by a speech impediment which Joseph chose to interpret as a lisp; but in Joseph’s mouth, it’s an extraordinary tool for conveying subtlety as well as emphasis, wit as well as poignancy."