The Girl in the Iron Mask presented by Babes With Blades at Raven Theatre

Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...The firecracker all-female cast is guided by Kevin Heckman's taut direction. Each actor obviously loves this unique take on a classic, and that love shows in their performances."

Daily Herald - Somewhat Recommended

"...The first play produced as part of BWB's new play development program, it needs work. While Nesvet deserves credit for not sentimentalizing the female characters, who turn on each other in an all too familiar way, the script is long-winded and confusing, with clumsy transitions and an overload of backstory. The production concludes with a striking image, but the ending came so abruptly the audience didn't realize the play had ended."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...The first play in Babes With Blades' program for the development of new works, Nesvet's drama provides plenty of opportunities for swordplay, which the performers seize with zest and skill. But the weak script includes characters with no real function (the historical Duchess of Montpensier, a fictional Afro-Caribbean escaped slave), and it ends abruptly and enigmatically."

Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...it’s disappointing to report that Babes with Blades’ world premiere of R.L. Nesvet’s The Girl in the Iron Mask is a storytelling muddle. It also turns unintentionally campy at moments when you should be riveted."

Gay Chicago Magazine - Not Recommended

"...While all of us would like to support women’s theatre and see female roles become more realistic and meaty, the realization of that lofty goal will have to wait a bit longer. Good intentions alone are not enough to get such a monumental task accomplished."

EpochTimes - Somewhat Recommended

"...While the story follows some of the original and there is some solid acting, I found the script to be lacking substance and in fact, the story seemed to be a reason for these agile ladies to show their "stuff". They are indeed swashbucklers and I for one wouldn't dare to go up against any one of them. They move extremely well and these fight scenes ( coordinated by Brenda E. Kelly) are very tightly done and in a very small space."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...It’s hard to blame Babes With Blades for attempting to spin Dumas’s The Man in the Iron Mask. The company’s goal—to “expand opportunities for women in the world of stage combat”—is surely a worthy one. And given the amount of swordplay here (which is well choreographed by Brenda E. Kelly), the group certainly lives up to its credo: This all-female cast erupts into impressive scenes of violence (although to brand such rugged outbursts feminist is complete nonsense)."