Skin in Flames at Second Stage Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended

"...It is a gnarled, fractious topic, this debate about picture-taking. Susan Sontag in "On Photography" picked apart the complexities with far more intellectual success than Clua (who writes for Spanish TV) does here. He also muddies the waters by injecting a second story line, about a young mother who is coerced into sexual servitude by a UN official. There is something indecisive about the play -- it wants to cover so much, and it ends up being about nothing."

Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...The actors do the best they can under the circumstances. But frankly, it feels to me that they are being exploited in the service of a play that is more interested in shock value than anything else."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Clua's certainly not subtle, but he does make some interesting points about the mechanisms of Western power. Director David Schmitz and his cast haven't the chops to express them."

Windy City Times - Recommended

"...the surprise ending, however cynical its implications, is well worth the diligence, and lazy theatergoers making the same mistake as they did with last year's Fellow Travelers in thinking that they can stop listening before the story is all done will have only themselves to blame for missing the punch line again."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...the bigger problem with his lukewarm chamber boiler—set in a shabby hotel room in an unnamed, democratizing nation that’s emerging from two decades of civil war—is a fundamental dramatic flaw no poli-sci posturing could overcome: unbelievable characters employed to support a contrived academic thesis."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...This riveting drama is expertly acted (especially by Gerrit O’Neill and Susaan Jamshidi) and smartly paced as the tension unfolds to its emotional zenith. Skin In Flames is a disturbing cautionary tale worth exploring with all the 21st Century world conflicts going on. Kudos to Stage Left Theatre for mounting this intense drama."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended

"...Intense emotional interplays mark the performance of "Skin in Flames," which mold well to Stage Left's mission to develop and produce plays that raise debate and challenge perspectives on political and social issues. Although billed as a search for forgiveness, this play presents the emotional depths of Frederick Salomon's inner life and struggle."