Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Although “Vladimir” has a clear point of view, Sheffer’s play resists allowing the audience to fall into simplistic armchair moralizing. I haven’t even mentioned the most mysterious and challenging character, a young Chechen woman played by Kseniya Janyan, because her storyline is better left unspoiled. But she utters some of the play’s most damning lines, urging us to consider whose suffering we care about and what can jolt us out of apathy. When there’s so much injustice in the world, what will it take to find our own courage?"
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Can you imagine a country where the president and his government seem physically incapable of telling a simple truth, comfortable with broadcasting obvious lies and meaningless explanations? In the world of this play, journalists are under attack, but the bravest among them keep searching for the truth, no matter who it implicates, because the truth matters. We're in Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's Russia."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...If you are the type of theatre-goer who enjoys productions like Timeline Theatre, where you walk into the theatre expecting a play and walk out having learned something about history, then Shattered Globe Theatre's Vladimir is definitely a production you should see.Shattered Globe Theatre Presents Vladimir."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Recommended
"...VLADIMIR is a two-hour production, whose intensity builds during the second act. It's a frightening political play that's based on actual historical facts, which makes it particularly terrifying. Throughout this gripping drama, especially in its final ten minutes, audiences will surely connect this horrific Russian story with our country within the past two years. Erika Sheffer's pulse-pounding play will remind the savvy theatergoer that the dangers of dictatorship in Russia during the early twenty-first century, with its lack of freedom of speech and the press, is reminiscent of America today. There is no reward for telling the truth."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...He’s not listed among the characters and he never appears. He’s a small man in stature but stares down taller opponents. He holds power through fear and brutality. The play named for him illustrates how he and his regime control his opposition. Vladimir by Erika Sheffer is the story of how that small man rules the lives of journalists in his country, a place where telling the truth can result in a death sentence."
Chicago On Stage
- Recommended
"...Vladimir by Erika Sheffer, directed by Lou Contey, is set at the turn of the century and 2004 in the beginning of the titular Vladimir Putin’s reign of Russia. The play follows the fictional journalist Raya Bobrinskaya (Rebecca Jordan) in her noble but often futile quest to report on the corruption in the Russian government and the happenings of the Second Chechen War, fought between Russia and Chechnya from 1999 to 2009. Along the way, Raya must deal with her daughter’s (Isabel Alamin) wedding, her boss and significant other’s (Adam Schulmerich) defection to apathy and a source (Tristan Odenkirk) increasingly committed to helping her in her cause."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Recommended
"...I have lived in the world of journalism for over 40 years. So I know that there are places where reporting the news may, unfortunately, mean becoming the news. This is the danger that underscores Vladimir, Erika Sheffer's drama about the professional and personal cost of telling the truth when those in power demand silence. Shattered Globe Theatre's Midwest premiere at Theater Wit, directed by Lou Contey, takes on this important and sadly timely subject with fine performances and a seriousness of purpose."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...Shattered Globe Theatre’s Vladimir is a strong example of how theatre can use the past to reflect the world’s current events. With themes of authoritarian government, threats to freedom of speech, and the suppression of truth, the season opener to the company’s 36th season hits close to home."
Allie and the After Party
- Recommended
"...Set during the first term of Vladimir Putin in Russia, one journalist can’t sit back and let the injustices around her continue. Mounting pressures and the feeling of being watched persist in the design of the play, making Vladimir hit closer to home."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...What distinguishes this play-and makes it necessary viewing for anyone interested not just in recent Russian history, but also the forces behind the worldwide neofascist resurgence-is its combination of broad sweep and sharp, telling detail. The curtain opens upon the surprise resignation of the drunken, debilitated Boris Yeltsin, who is so far gone he urinates into a vase in front of TV cameras as he hands power over to his henchman Putin on December 31, 1999. From there we jump forward five years, during which time Putin has consolidated control over the major institutions, including the military, parliament, party system, media and economy."
