Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...There's nothing academic or postmodern about "Swing State." Instead, you get a piece of deeply moving theater that seems to understand depression, the complexities of how police officers change people's futures for good or ill, the difficulty of carrying on when you have to carry on. Gilman has explored many of these melancholy themes before, most notably in "Blue Surge" and "Twilight Bowl.""
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...That psychological circumstance almost certainly defines the "Swing State" of Gilman's title.The other characters exist in it, too, all responding in different ways to loss.Ryan (Bubba Weiler) lost both his parents and went to prison for a bad bar fight, relying now on Peg as a surrogate mother to help him hold onto his sobriety and stability. Kris (Kirsten Fitzgerald), Peg's neighbor and the local sheriff, lost a son to a fentanyl overdose.Kris' niece Dani (Anne E. Thompson) lost her sense of identity with a divorce and is finding a new one with her job as a deputy."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...That Goodman Theatre's superb "Swing State" moves audiences from laughter to tears is no surprise. Plenty of plays do that. What is noteworthy about Rebecca Gilman's powerful new drama is how it elicits those contrary emotions within nanoseconds of each other -- within a single line of dialogue, even. And more significantly, how its humor and its pathos are entirely earned."
Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...Sadly, Swing State swings into the latter camp, as it casts a wide net to take on the divisive political beliefs among rural Wisconsinites. Directed by Robert Falls and featuring an impeccable ensemble, Swing State has two major problems: First, a plot hole makes a climactic scene of violence ring hollow. A threat made in the penultimate scene makes no logical or legal sense, and it renders any sense of perilousness artificial."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Swing State is a refreshing look at the human condition and explores how humanity deals with the realism of traumatic loss and how we examine and comprehend grief. Playwright Rebecca Gilman's touching story will hit home with anyone who has lived long enough to experience pain and the feeling of loss we can never regain. Swing State also touches on subject manners like drug use, the pandemic, people's judgment regarding Covid and wearing a mask - and the heightened divide our nation currently has regarding our politics. This play is intense, heart-warming, and a tear-jerker, all rolled into an hour and forty-five minutes of great theater - it's Chicago theater at its best!"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...If we define the term “Swing State” we are looking at a state where the 2 major political powers are similar in levels of support among voters. These are the states that are easier to win away from one’s opponent in a Presidential election. In watching Rebecca Gilman’s “Swing State” we are in a small Wisconsin town where one can see, as it is a state that could be turned easily, that politics gets mixed up with personal lives. To the rest of the country, these small town “farmers” have no bearing on the Presidential race, but in reality, it is exactly these states that do make the difference."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...The acting and direction in the production are uniformly excellent. And, as ever, Todd Rosenthal's set design is ideal, with its decidedly lived-in, object-filled kitchen and den typical of a mid-20th century middle class house, complete with a classic water cooler emblematic of Peg's avoidance of chemically poisonous tap water."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Rebecca Gilman’s incredibly riveting new drama, currently enjoying its much lauded World Premiere at the Goodman Theatre, solidifies this writer as one of our finest American playwrights. And with her recent move to rural Wisconsin, Ms Gilman’s last three plays have, not so coincidentally, take place in America’s Dairyland. Like “Soups, Stews and Casseroles” and “Twilight Bowl,” both of which were produced during the pre-pandemic years by the Goodman Theatre, “Swing State” takes another deep look at the country’s heartland."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...A title like "Swing State" is certainly provocative and might suggest exactly what Rebecca Gilman's new play is about, but oddly enough it's not about an election. Two of Chicago's best actresses; Mary Beth Fisher and Kristen Fitzgerald join director Robert Falls in this much-anticipated production at Goodman Theatre. Chicago-based playwright Rebecca Gilman has had a long history of collaborating with Goodman, Robert Falls and Mary Beth Fisher. This is the tenth play they've produced, and many have been directed by Falls and, or starred Fisher. "Swing State" is another riveting script from the Pulitzer-nominated playwright."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...SWING STATE thoroughly convinces the audience of the truth and then flips it ... again and again. The writing, directing and acting tests the audience's beliefs. This highly recommended show engages and entertains."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Swing State is playwright Rebecca Gilman's latest effort in asking us to understand the lives of 20 percent of the US population-those who do not live in major metropolitan areas. Even though their numbers may be smaller than those of city dwellers, these voters can often make a difference in a state or national election. Bur Swing State, now playing at Goodman Theatre, is not directly about partisan politics. But it is about environmental disaster and, subtly, how it's viewed by some swing state residents. Robert Falls, Gilman's frequent collaborator, directs the production. Falls' direction clicks with Gilman's script as he establishes the pace and timing of the story and its four characters."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Goodman’s former artistic director Robert Falls directs, in his first post-retirement work for the theatre, and he comes back to a playwright whose works he has now directed six times over the past two decades. I think it is safe to say that he is one of the premiere interpreters of Gilman’s plays anywhere, if not absolutely the best, and he understands how to bring out her vibrant language and carefully crafted characters."
MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended
"...Swing State is a play that stays with you, not only for the clean but elegant writing and the superlative acting but for what it tells us about ourselves. In its embrace, we learn more about grief and loss, both personal and global, about the need to fight for change even in the face of what appear to be insurmountable obstacles, about the importance of who we love and what we value. Make sure you find the time to savor this moving play. You will come away a better person with a more intimate sense of how the personal and political connect."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Swing State certainly explores some down points for Peg and Ryan. We as an audience just witnessed Peg's actions with the knife at the top of the play, and so we know Peg may be in a darker place than she lets on. However, Gilman carefully crafts a relationship that this writer certainly wanted to see succeed, and one that Fisher and Weiler fill with a sweet chemistry and dark comedic timing."
BroadwayWorld - Somewhat Recommended
"...Rebecca Gilman shows her deftness at writing "slice of life" plays in SWING STATE. In this latest collaboration with outgoing Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls, Gilman introduces four characters at a crossroads in a small town in rural Wisconsin during summer 2021. It's marketed as a play about the pandemic, and indeed, SWING STATE contains some references to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks, and vaccines. Ultimately, though, SWING STATE is a pure character study with the notions of pandemic and extinction of the human race in the background, and notions of mortality and despair in the foreground. Yes, it's a post-pandemic play, but really it's just allowing us to peer into the lives of these characters at a moment in time. That's not to say that Gilman's play isn't moving, but I found the overall execution to not be as overarching as the set-up purports."
