Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Director Ronan Marra's production is wise, sober and unflashy. It does run out of steam somewhat before the end (the script has that problem too), especially when Tanya is not as central. And the otherwise earnest actor Dylan Stuckey, who plays a medic whose passions are merely better hidden, falls into the trap of undervocalizing, which tends to pull down the energy of the show, just when the cocktail of inaction and sexual tension should be unbearable."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"..."This is War," now receiving its riveting U.S. premiere by Signal Ensemble Theatre, is a fierce, supremely well-written story of four Canadian soldiers (one of them, not at all incidentally, a woman) who served in Afghanistan. Stationed in a remote area - where the Taliban enemy, the local population and the presumably friendly Afghan National Army were not at all easy to differentiate - it captures the sense of overwhelming tension, fear and confusion involved in the operations of war. But more crucially, it looks at the very human ways in which the soldiers interact, and how fear, heat, sexual tension and the pressure that comes with having to make countless life-or-death choices (a good number of them involving children) pushes them to the breaking point."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Playing a quartet of deeply flawed but fully drawn characters, the cast of Ronan Marra's explosive production seem at once haunted by what they've seen and terrified of what they're capable of. Especially impressive is Michael Finley, who plays a fresh-faced recruit with a volatile mix of naivete and adolescent recklessness."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Where Moscovitch's structure drops the visceral impact her story calls for, though, Ronan Marra's production and first-rate ensemble pick it up and aim it right between the eyes. Finley, a current Northwestern undergrad who recently debuted professionally in Shade Murray's brilliant A Red Orchid production of The Aliens, is particularly haunting as a 20-year-old in over his head. For that matter, so is the entire quartet: This is non-Equity ensemble work at some of its finest."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...This Is War does succeed in relaying the emotional ambivalences, vague motives, poor decisions and narrow perspectives that seem to define real life at the frontline (and elsewhere). But where we want This Is War to stand for something (anything, really), it only ever waffles, unable to channel the anxieties and guilt of its characters into a clear and purposeful way forward for the rest of us."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...War is Hell! During my lifetime I have heard this phrase more times than I want to recall, as we have been involved in many wars that are not really our concern, but as THE World leaders, must be part of. In Hannah Moscovitch's "This Is War" , now having its U.S. Premiere at Signal Theatre, we get a glimpse os what takes place in the lives of four members of the Canadian forces who are holding Panjwaii ( in Afghanistan) as they are interviewed about a particular incident and time when they lost one of their own- why did this happen? Who is responsible? These are the questions that arise from each of the members of this troop tells us what happened. The story unfolds in a manner in which you will want to pay close attention to."
