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 ...
The Fourth Walsh
Theatre with a side of life
Category Chicago Shakespeare Theater
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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 ...
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EXTENDED Thru Nov 15 “Ride the Cyclone” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): A Total Original
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents the U.S. premiere of RIDE THE CYCLONE. Canadian creative team Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell have reconstructed their roller coaster in Chicago. The musical originated as a song cycle of the theatre company Atomic Vaudeville. The show garnered a cult following within the Canadian border. At Chicago Shakes, Richmond and Maxwell continue ...
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Review “The Tempest” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): This is My Fave!
We believe conjuring and poetry are complementary. Poetry is magic, spoken. Magic is poetry acted out. Marrying them illuminates both. - Teller Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents THE TEMPEST. I’ve often experienced Chicago Shakes producing magic in their productions. In THE TEMPEST, it’s literally true: card tricks, a levitating lady, disappearing people. In less skillful hands, these ...
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Review “Dunsinane” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater): Macbeth the Sequel
Chicago Shakespeare Theater World’s Stage, in conjunction with the National Theatre of Scotland and The Royal Shakespeare Company, presents DUNSINANE. Macbeth is dead. The English Army storm Macbeth’s castle of Dunsinane to find his wife is not. Lady Macbeth or as the locals call her, Gruach (played with steely determination by Siobhan Redmond) has assumed ...
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Review “The Table” (Chicago Shakes): Moses is back!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater welcomes Blind Summit’s THE TABLE to headline the Chicago International Puppet Festival, January 14th through 25th. Moses is back! The little guy is here for the 2015 puppet fest. He brought his table and his mobility crew (Mark Down, Sean Garratt, Laura Caldow). Three performers manipulate and navigate the puppet through his existentialism ...
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Review “Pericles” (Chicago Shakes): Muddled!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater presents PERICLES. There’s a reason that PERICLES is a lesser known work of Shakespeare. It’s muddled! Based on the real life of a prominent Greek Statesman (495-429 BC), the play takes us on a voyage of Pericles’ life… actually multiple voyages. And unlike in the literary stories of “Nicholas Nickleby” or “Robinson Crusoe,” ...