Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"..."Skylight," which is mostly a two-character affair, briefly bookended by appearances by the man's 18-year-old son, has the patina of balance. It skewers the idealism of faux-bohemians determined to make an educational difference in lives their own privileged backgrounds barely equip them to understand. And it brilliantly nails the ways bankers and businesspeople have shrewdly redefined their own brand these last couple of decades, forcing us all not to think of them merely as people who make money for themselves in the time-honored tradition, but as benevolent job-creators whose entrepreneurial success makes them qualified to opine as experts on all manner of socially oriented subjects once left to specialists, not the least of which is urban education."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Brown, making his Court Theatre debut, demonstrates (not for the first time) that he is a master of delving into grown-up drama and the psychology behind all our choices in life. And Hare gives us one of the more charming and poignant final scenes to be found in any contemporary play."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...There's at least an hour's worth of terrific drama sprinkled throughout Court Theatre's meticulous revival of the 1995 play by David Hare. Trouble is, the show lasts for two and a half hours. Ex-lovers Kyra and Tom spend the night in Kyra's shabby London flat, reminiscing and arguing about their affair gone awry."
Chicago Stage Review - Somewhat Recommended
"... In Court Theatre’s production of Skylight, superb performances from all three actors are utterly wasted. The only character to care about here is Edward, but this is Kyra and Tom’s story, not Edward’s, so Edward’s scenes are short and largely superfluous. Now that the world has moved past the greed and the arrogance of the 1980s, and the smug cynicism of the 1990s, Skylight proves to be less than illuminating theatre that cannot be brightened by even the best of performances."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
...Hare skillfully parcels out his characters’ shared history, even as he leaves the stakes mostly in the past. In the present, Tom and Kyra (who’s now teaching school in a rough part of London) segue into political arguments: He charges her with slumming born of liberal guilt, she accuses him of capitalist heartlessness, the two go round and round at egregious length. While Rook and Johnson impart their performances with passion, they don’t generate a believable heat. That lack of friction may lie partly in William Brown’s expansive staging. Kyra’s supposedly cramped and shabby flat is so sprawling in Todd Rosenthal’s set as to allow far too much daylight between the former lovers."
ShowBizChicago - Highly Recommended
"...I don't pretend to understand the social and political atmosphere that shrouded daily life in post-Thatcher Britain, but fortunately, I don't have to. No matter the how hazy the political clime, Hare makes easy work of making the audience feel Tom and Kyra's sharp-edged pain, their continuous inner battle with past and current versions of themselves, and the lies they believed along the way. Skylight is a raw, intimate, emotional work put on by capable hands at the Court Theatre - just makes sure you grab a bite the show starts."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...If this were a tennis match, you’d have to say Tom holds serve most of the game. We come away amused and impressed by his drollery and confidence, and certainly by Johnson’s aggressive, precisely gauged performance. Rook’s reborn, or at least reconstituted, Kyra plays her defensive game with an appealing mix of wariness and vulnerability. Indeed, the initial insinuation, then growing intensity of Kyra’s uneasy dance with Tom bespeaks the pervasive fluency and honesty of William Brown’s direction. Would that Hare had been less enamored of his own verbal virtuosity and shortened up the fight."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"... This is an idea play thatwill have you debating it long after leavingthetheatre.David Hare effectively argues both Tom’s and Kyra’spointofviews. Each character’spointof view convinces us until we hear the other’s rebuttal.Ultimately trustdecidesthings but only after a riveting evening of conflicted desires, aspirations, and ideologies. Hare’s brilliant writing is equalized by the expertwork by Matt Farabe,Laura Rook,and especially Philip Earl Johnson."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"... Many theater audiences are not aware a type of theater known as “Chamber Theater”., although they are of Chamber Music- they are very much alike in that they are an intimate way of reaching an smaller audience with either music ( in the case of Chamber music) or with a story that makes more sens to the viewer in an intimate form. The present production on the stage at Court Theatre on the campus of The University of Chicago, David Hare’s “Skylight” is such a piece."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Under the direction of William Brown this piece was beautifully crafted. You can tell Mr. Brown is an actor himself. He used the stage and moved the actors through a complex choreography; not only with words, but the very proximity they spoke in. He achieved a thoughtful regularity to the direction. It never felt staged, and yet the actions moved the story along nicely, despite the script."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...In the Court production, Laura Rook plays Kyra and Philip Earl Johnson plays Tom. Under William Brown’s directing, “Skylight” is mostly Kyra’s play. Rook gives the more forceful performance and thus Kyra’s side of the arguments is more convincing. Johnson’s Tom is an appealing, genial character, a bit fey, a bit sexist, finding Kyra’s idealism impossible to accept or even understand. I can envision a production in which Tom is a commanding, intimidating figure, with a more insecure Kyra withering under his biting humor and skepticism. The Court interpretation is justifiable, and so is a version that makes Tom the power character. That richness of possibility is part of why “Skylight” is a great play."
