Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Ionesco knew the perils of fascism. He'd lived them firsthand. And his cri de coeur (with laughs) really no longer needs any embellishment. So "Victims of Duty" (and aren't we all?) works best when its actors, be they the core players or late-in-show arrivals Mierka Gierten and Richard Cotovsky, stare out at an audience, many drawn by Shannon into an Ionesco trap where forced revelation exposes only human emptiness and insecurity, and will them to better see themselves."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Eugene Ionesco's "Victims of Duty" turns on a tongue-in-cheek bit of dramatic criticism. The French-Romanian absurdist opens the work on a scene of mildly off-kilter, middle-class domesticity between Choubert (reliable fireplug Guy van Swearingen) and his wife Madeleine (the exquisite Karen Aldridge). As she darns socks and he reads the news ("nothing ever happens," he reports), the two come to a discussion of the theater."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...And then too, she's got Michael Shannon and Guy Van Swearingen, both of whom were in the 1995 staging. A close relative of his villain in The Shape of Water, Shannon's Detective makes excellent use of that familiar pained grimace that says, See what you made me do? to his prey. Van Swearingen, meanwhile, has the physical chops to render Choubert's descents and ascents vivid. Karen Aldridge is similarly agile, taking Madeleine from catty to ancient to erotic at will."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...There's no real thesis to be had, but the production leaves a number of bruising impressions. Shannon's performance alone is a masterful deconstruction of his own Hollywood archetype. His detective is a tall, frightening brute turned inside out to reveal a screechy, petulant child. When it reaches fever pitch, Shannon's voice doesn't bellow-it honks. In the movies, most directors don't know what to do with it. Piven, on the other hand, uses it perfectly. It's clear that Shannon relishes performing with A Red Orchid, and Victims of Duty leaves no doubt as to why."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Best remembered for the 1959 play Rhinoceros, in which a man attempts to understand how his neighbors have become rage-filled monsters, Ionesco first became famous for Victims of Duty in 1953. An exploration of themes such as obedience to authority and the deadening of oneself, Victims of Duty is, in some ways, an early draft of ideas Ionesco would more fully develop later. But this production at A Red Orchid Theatre, directed by Shira Piven and including cast members from the company’s previous production in 1995, is a masterpiece in its own right."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This production is particularly appropriate for this moment in time. In the way Ionesco echoes, not only what was happening in Paris, soon after the Nazis were driven out, but also what’s happening in America today makes it especially fitting. The playwright’s familiarity with fascism and his incorporation of themes of bullying, torture and blind obedience to authority seems absurdly timely. It’s not a play for everyone’s taste, but the thinking theatergoer, who’s openminded and ready to enjoy a play that’s as current as today’s headlines, will enjoy the 90 minutes spent with his fellow Victims of Duty."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...In the end, "Victims of Duty" is an enigmatic play, not for every audience taste. The importance of the Theater of the Absurd now seems more historical than artistic in value. In its time, the postwar condition of society opened the door for essentially pessimistic plays that question the values of the day, often in an abstruse and arbitrary manner. But even discounting the dated nature of the content, "The Victims of Duty" has its rewards, especially in the A Red Orchid's resonating production. For those patrons lucky enough to score a ticket, it's perhaps the most rewarding 85 minutes currently on a Chicagoland stage."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...All the characters confess to the titular function, creating a fluid stew of want and need, a concoction of past and present in a provocative production."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...The Detective, who is also a lover and despot, leads Choubert on an exploration of his mind descending and ascending through the dark reaches of imagination from patriotic husband to son to infant while Madeline's journey from wife to lover and old age all find their place within the pages of a play. It is a detective story, of course, the kind about which all great drama revolves, we are told. If you are having hard time following this, you will not be alone. Such is the world that Ionesco creates, where traditional perceptions and characterizations are virtually non-existent. Victims of Duty may not be everyone's cup of coffee, but there are plenty of cups to go around."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...It does not take long for theatergoers to become acquainted with French absurdist theater. In the first five minutes of the play, we sense we are on a wild ride. From this writer's viewpoint Victims of Duty is a thinking person's play. It is a laughing person's play. Ionesco's words carry the flavor of the absurdity of our own news cycle making it a prophetic and important work."
