Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...This is a very interesting script, but prison dramas are always tough in small spaces, where you often are pulled out of the show by intuiting that one character could take down another, grab the weapon and get the heck out of there, in pursuit of more cold, hard cash."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...As animated graduate seminars go, Pulitzer winner Ayad Akhtar's 2012 play is excellent. But Akhtar's intellectual acumen often exceeds his dramatic abilities, as underdeveloped characters, predictable plotting, and ponderous dialogue abound. Director Audrey Francis's superlative cast, led by Joel Reitsma as the pathetic, contemptible Nick, make the two-hour affair consistently fascinating but only intermittently compelling."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...If the play’s final lesson was that “money corrupts,” it wouldn’t be much of a revelation. But Akhtar pushes beyond that. Rather than examining what money does to people, he’s more interested in the natural contradictions inherent in capitalism itself. When people are guided by self-interest—a condition Adam Smith found to be a virtue—what’s to stop them from doing all sorts of nasty things in order to get what they want? In the end, it’s not that traditional market forces get perverted, it’s that they get taken to their most logical end. If Nick has learned anything by the play’s end, it’s that he doesn’t have what it really takes. Unlike Bashir, he lacks the edge."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...Watching the madness unfold is Dar, the Pakistani everyman. Anand Bhatt gets this awakened innocent just right. A happy-go-lucky guy at the outset, gregarious, helped and won over by Nick's investment tips, Dar makes a full turn to darkness and mistrust - coin of the realm."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...THE INVISIBLE HAND pushes us into an uncomfortable place. We see the desperation of oppressed people. We learn how money can fund a revolution. We understand greed brings out the worst in human nature. We just don’t know who is more right than wrong. THE INVISIBLE HAND will have you mulling over an American banker being kidnapped long after you’re released from your Pakistan cell."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...The four actors who make up this strong cast, smoothly directed by Audrey Francis, are all superb. Reitsma and Ahmed are a powerful team, creating a tense game of colleagues turning into enemies and back again. Sitting close to the action, as you do in this 52-seat venue, enhances the intensity of the story.x
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Akhtar has given capitalism, human nature, and geo-political realities circa now a 3-dimensional X-ray. When even life-sustaining water is for sale, those invisible hands that are supposed to steady markets are more like Lady Macbeth's. Akhtar isn't telling us how to get that blood off our hands. Don't expect that sequel. Expect to think about power and greed anew."
