Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...To put that more simply, Court has found a powerful way to explore a great character's inner life. But the show struggles with the other side of Ibsen - as a social dramatist, constantly probing the myriad connections we make as human beings, as well as vulnerable dramatic characters working things out before an audience. Ibsen's people never got so lost inside their own heads that they could not relate."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...At the start of Court Theatre's production of the rarely produced Henrik Ibsen play "The Lady from the Sea," director Shana Cooper and her design team deliver one of the more exquisite images you'll see on stage. Behind a set of sliding glass doors, we see the actress Chaon Cross appearing to float on her side as if she were a sea creature, a mermaid. Her movement feels fluid, her body relaxed. It's a vision of someone at peace with her surroundings. It's a most alluring illusion, a brief but memorable bit of theatrical magic."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Parts of the show still feel a bit becalmed at times, but Cross is a marvel throughout, as is McBride as Bolette, who has her own desires to build something other than being her father's housekeeper, and Morris as wild child Hilda (the character reappears in Ibsen's 1892 play The Master Builder). The Lady from the Sea is that rarity: an Ibsen play with a largely happy ending (or at least not an overtly tragic one). As Ibsen scholar and philosopher Lou Andreas-Salome wrote of Ellida, "She stands in a world that is protective, a place of unity and conciliation." Not a bad place to be."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Somewhat Recommended
"...Though Ibsen is considered one of the most influential playwrights of his time, The Lady From The Sea first hour and thirty minutes can cure your insomnia. Its lethargic pace, which Ibsen may have deliberately intended, as he enjoyed the development of humanizing the character, seems to have confused the audience, not understanding its direction."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"..."The Lady from the Sea" is one of Henrik Ibsen's least known plays; yet it expresses a very important theme: that we possess free will as individuals but generally find it easier to bow to societal customs and traditions that we actually might dislike or disagree with. Court Theatre's production of this work contains unique directing by Shana Cooper, choreography by Erika Chong Shuch, and scenic design by Andrew Boyce. But it is not clear whether the additional layers of complexity and artistry tacked onto this production enhance or detract from the original story."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...Chaon Cross returns to the Court as Ellida, the housewife and stepmother at the heart of the story. Cross previously appeared at the Court in Proof as Catherine and Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51. I also remember her from Greenhouse Theatre's absolutely delightful Midsummer a few years ago. She was amazing in all those roles, and is so again here. The show is more symbolic than literal about Ellida's life and choices, and that leaves it to the actress to imbue those struggles with real life. Cross does so masterfully in a way that I'm certain took great effort, but did not look like it."
Third Coast Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Ibsen's best-known work, A Doll's House, similarly deals with a woman facing a seemingly impossible choice, and yet that production has remained relevant and timely since its premiere in 1879. Nelson's uneven translation of The Lady from the Sea, and Cooper's less-than-impressive realization of it, lacks a depth of character development and, perhaps more importantly, never quite lets us into Ellida's tormented inner monologue to understand why and how she makes the decisions she does. I kept waiting for a grand moment, some unexpected revelation or a shift in the show's energy at all, enough to make the time spent with these characters and their troubled relationships worth it. That moment never came, and even as the narrative resolves its many plot points, it nevertheless leaves one wishing there'd been more there there in the first place."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...In the new Court Theatre production of The Lady From the Sea, director Shana Cooper has taken what is already one of Henrik Ibsen's moodiest plays and upped the ante. Using a new translation from playwright Richard Nelson, commissioned after the Court's Covid-aborted 2020 opening of the play, Cooper's long-awaited show brings out the poetry and the mystery of this little-produced play through a combination of powerful acting, inventive casting, intriguing choreography, and a little bit of theatrical wizardry. The result, as if Cooper willed it into existence, is a complex play with tiny hints of the supernatural and all of Ibsen's trademark characterizations."
PicksInSix - Recommended
"...The characters literally-and figuratively-ebb and flow through the play like the sea itself. That imagery reveals itself in every facet of the creative teams superb work: the stylized choreography by Erika Chong Such, that serves as a prelude for the action; the undulating Paul Toben/Erin Pleake projections and Toben's striking lighting co-design with Keith Parham; a distinct-and nearly imperceptible at times-sound design Andre Pluess; and, Andrew Boyce's expansive scenic seascape replete with rock, water, a beachhead of sand and a magnificent coastal lodge exterior that serves the story in multiple ways including a truly, stunning visual effect early on."
TotalTheater - Recommended
"...This leaves Chaon Cross to almost single-handedly heft the play's weighty subtext in the role of Ellida. She is relieved from time to time by Tanya Thai McBride and Angela Morris as stepdaughters Bollette and Hilda, whose examples illustrate the alternative results of dreams deferred: the former finding contentment in compromise, but the latter hinting at the amorality her mischief will perpetrate in the sequel—oh, yes, Ibsen's not done with his restless heroines yet."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...For those seeking an introduction to this seldom-seen work and two more Ibsen women who push societal boundaries, the able cast makes it well worth a visit to Court Theatre, in this writer's opinion. Chaon Cross as Ellida manages to be both ethereal and intense; Gregory Linington as Wangel, so wrapped up in his wife that he is blind to his daughter's needs, inspires sympathy; and Tanya Thai McBridge as Bolette and Samuel Taylor as her much-older suitor Arnholm, become a compelling pair."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Was it worth the wait? The production, directed by Shana Cooper, is a mixed bag-well-acted and intriguing, but sometimes uneven in tone and irritating. It seems to be two plays, a naturalistic one about the tough choices faced by women in a repressive time, and a surrealistic one about a woman as much mermaid as human. The parts don't harmonize, and can seem as ill-matched as the main characters' marriage."
