Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents Red Velvet, staged by Broadway and Chicago director Gary Griffin and starring celebrated Shakespearean actor Dion Johnstone. After legendary English actor Edmund Kean collapses onstage as Othello, Ira Aldridge is brought in to replace him. In 1833 London, the decision is considered controversial. Aldridge is a black actor playing opposite a white woman. Playwright Lolita Chakrabarti ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category Chicago Shakespeare Theater
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EXTENDED Thru June 18th “Shakespeare in Love” (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre): Enchanting!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. I loved the movie. I loved this play. Screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard imagined Will Shakespeare's writing process in creating his masterpiece "Romeo and Juliet." The romantic comedy has the penniless playwright (played by the charismatic Nick Rehberger) struggling to tell a story. When he falls for the ...
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Review “Love’s Labor’s Lost” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): Boys Meet Girls = Love
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST. Four guys. Four gals. Four couples!? It's not quite as simple as 1, 2, 3, 4. This Shakespearean romantic comedy will test affections using secret love letters, clandestine meet-ups and lovers in disguise. The Bard puts his would-be lovers through a dating game of word play. The king and ...
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Review “The Complete Deaths” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): Killing It!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the Spymonkey’s THE COMPLETE DEATHS. Did you know there are 75 onstage deaths in Shakespeare’s plays? The killings include 74 human plus the fly in “Titus Andronicus.” Spymonkey, UK’s clown troupe, perform this clever tribute to the Shakespearean deceased. Director and Adaptor Tim Crouch has created a showcase showdown of these ...
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Review “Measure for Measure” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): Best Experienced Visual for Visual
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the inaugural production of Shakespeare 400 Chicago. For a limited engagement from January 27th through January 31st, Cheek by Jowl and Pushkin Theatre, Moscow present MEASURE FOR MEASURE. This Shakespearean play has traditionally been labeled a comedy. Despite having the Bard’s typical folly of characters in disguise and unrequited love, it also ...
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My Top Ten Unforgettable 2015 Plays
It is my great fortune to live in a town that is bursting with so much theatrical talent. About seven years ago, I stumbled into reviewing the Chicago theatre scene. Every show enhances my understanding of theatre and life. I enjoy most every production for some aspect. The stinkers have been a single digit percentage ...
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Review “The Heir Apparent” (Chicago Shakes): Light, frothy with plenty of poop
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents THE HEIR APPARENT. On its mainstage, Chicago Shakes is keeping it light and frothy. Playwright David Ives has adapted Jean-Francois Regnard’s “Le Legataire.” Although Ives tells the inheritance lampoon in verse, he liberally adds in the sh#t show. Ives dirties up the lyrical elegance with expletives and poop talk. Hearing the ...
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Review “Q Brothers Christmas Carol” (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre): Hip-Hop Holiday Tradition
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents A Q BROTHERS’ CHRISTMAS CAROL. They’re back! The Q Brothers return with a third helping of what is quickly becoming Chicago’s hip-hop holiday tradition. GQ and JQ, along with Jackson Doran and Postell Pringle, have written a rap version of Dickens’ classic. The funky sound provides a trendy alternative in the Christmas ...