Displaying items by tag: thriller

The Goodman Theatre’s Covenant announces York Walker as a playwright ascending rapidly into the highest tier of American theater. This is not simply an impressive new work; it is the kind of play that reminds audiences why live theater remains uniquely capable of unsettling the spirit. Walker has written something rare: a Southern Gothic thriller steeped equally in folklore, faith, desire, and dread. Under the extraordinary direction of Malkia Stampley - arguably some of the finest work of her already remarkable career - the production unfolds with hypnotic control and devastating emotional precision.

Set in 1936 Georgia, Covenant begins with Ruthie’s haunting declaration: “Everybody got a secret.” That line becomes the pulse beneath the entire production. Secrets saturate every corner of Walker’s world. Desire hides beneath scripture. Fear hides beneath righteousness. Love hides beneath suspicion. And every revelation threatens to crack the play wide open.

Walker’s writing is lyrical without becoming self-conscious, poetic without sacrificing danger. His dialogue moves like music - earthy, funny, intimate, and increasingly ominous. The play’s supernatural undertones never overpower its humanity. Instead, Walker roots every eerie moment in emotional truth. The result is a suspenseful theatrical experience that genuinely keeps the audience on edge. Spooky, suspenseful plays this good are rare. Even rarer are ones disciplined enough not to betray themselves too early. The less one knows going in, the better. This production rewards surrender.

Stampley directs with astonishing confidence. She understands that terror often lives in silence, stillness, and suggestion. The production breathes with tension. Every pause feels loaded. Every gesture seems to carry spiritual consequence. The prayer sequences become almost ritualistic choreography, while scenes of intimacy hum with equal parts longing and danger. Stampley masterfully balances the play’s realism and its creeping nightmare logic without allowing either to overpower the other.

The production’s technical elements are equally exceptional. Set designer Ryan Emens creates a sparse wooden structure dominated by a cross front and center, a deceptively simple design that transforms effortlessly, with the addition of a few pieces of furniture, into both a humble church and a family home. Costume designer Evelyn M. Danner has clearly done her homework; the costumes feel authentically rooted in the period without ever appearing overly theatrical. The lighting design by Gina Patterson becomes an entirely new character in the production. Patterson’s work shapes mood and terror with remarkable precision, particularly during a stunning sequence involving thunder, lightning, and pouring rain that sends a chill through the audience. Complementing it beautifully is Dee Etti-Williams’ sound design, which works in haunting tandem with the lighting to create an atmosphere of gathering doom.

Ashli René Funches in Covenant at Goodman Theatre. Photo by Hugo Hentoff.

The all-Chicago cast is exceptional from top to bottom.

Debo Balogun delivers magnetic work as Johnny “Honeycomb” James, a wandering blues musician whose charm conceals depths the audience is never fully certain it understands. Balogun’s performance is seductive, wounded, and quietly terrifying all at once. He understands the danger of charisma.

As Ruthie, Ashli Renè Funches gives the production its emotional anchor. Her narration draws us into the story with heartbreaking vulnerability, and her slow awakening to the darkness surrounding her becomes deeply affecting.

Jaeda Lavonne is luminous as Avery, a young woman desperate to escape the suffocating boundaries of her world. Lavonne beautifully captures Avery’s hunger for freedom while allowing fear and spiritual confusion to shadow every choice she makes.

As Violet, Felicia Oduh brings sharp intelligence, humor, and emotional volatility to the stage. Violet often functions as the play’s skeptic and truth-teller, and Oduh gives her a raw immediacy that keeps the character from becoming merely symbolic.

Then there is Anji White as Mama. White disappears entirely into the role. Her performance is extraordinary in its complexity - unyielding, terrifying, wounded, and deeply tragic. Mama could easily become a caricature of religious severity, but White reveals the grief and horror buried underneath her righteousness. Her monologues land like thunderclaps.

What makes Covenant especially impressive is how fully it trusts the audience. Walker refuses easy answers. The play constantly asks whether evil is supernatural, inherited, psychological, or self-created. Is the devil real in this world? Or do people simply need something external to blame for the violence they carry inside themselves? The play never simplifies those questions.

And then comes the ending.

Do not spoil it for yourself. Do not let anyone spoil it for you. The audience will not see it coming.

Covenant is beautifully written, beautifully acted, and beautifully told. It lingers long after the lights go down, like a whispered warning you cannot quite forget.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When: Through May 31 *Now extended though June 7th

Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.

Runtime: 140 minutes (no intermission)

Tickets: $24-$44

Info: www.goodmantheatre.org

Box Office: 312-443-3800

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com. 

What better props and scenery than that in one’s own imagination? And what better way to give each audience member their own unique experience than to let each follow their own journey guided only by storytelling without any visuals to distract, detract or force its own interpretation of what we are supposed to see?  Theatre in the Dark masterfully succeeds in bringing to life a story that is sure to be different for each end everyone in attendance. ‘Three Stories Up’ is the theatre production’s company latest undertaking – a noir mystery/thriller that takes places in complete darkness.

Taking place at The Church on Thorndale (1244 W. Thorndale), theatre goers are put into different groups consisting of just a handful of people each. We are then led through the main congregation area of the Church, through a hallway and into a small, but comfortable, sized room. At that point, all attendees are blindfolded and led in a single file line - holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of us for guidance - into another room where we are seated. Before taking off the blindfolds, we are given instructions and cautionary directions on what to do should claustrophobia take effect – so, worry not, every precaution is taken and by the time the play begins, we are at ease and ready to immerse ourselves into a suspense mystery. 

We are then directed to remove the blindfolds – and it is pitch black. After waiting for my eyes to adjust just ever so slightly to see the most minimal amount of light, I realize minutes later, nope, this is truly the absence of light in its greatest sense. A hand inches from one’s face may have well been twenty feet away. And though the actors move about, and are sometimes seemingly inches away from seated guests, they make a point to not touch anyone. 

 
Chicago playwright Mackenzie Gordon gives us a gripping 80-minute drama done in the style of radio mysteries done in the 1930s and 1940s. As the story progresses, we hear characters move from one location to another. Director Cory Bradberry does a wonderful job of delivering this engaging story that revolves a Canadian transit cop, Beatrice Dulaurier, who finds her husband dead upon coming home, as each scene is painted so beautifully that vivid images effortlessly appear in our heads throughout.

As a crime drama that has all the elements of a noir thriller, ‘Three Stories Up’ is filled with colorful personalities including the hardboiled detective, the ambitious (and suspicious) journalist and a host of quirky characters. Unsure of how many cast members were handling the voices of the story’s characters during the performance, I was surprised when it turned out to be just two actors handling all the roles – Bethany Arrington (Beatrice Dulaurier, others) and Mackenzie Gordon (Gunner Bjornsen, others). Both were nothing short of outstanding. And kudos to Corey Bradford who really enhanced the overall experience with strategic foley and sound design.

‘Three Stories Up’ is a thriller that keeps its audience guessing, but the originality behind the production – and its precise execution - makes it a must see as one of Chicago’s more creative theatre adventures.

‘Three Stories Up’ is being performed at The Church on Thorndale through November 9th.

For tickets and/or more show information, visit www.theareinthedark.com.   

 

Plays like Flying Elephant Productions’ ‘Defacing Michael Jackson’ are exactly what the Chicago theatre scene is for. This innovative new play by Aurin Squire won the Lincoln Center Theatre one act contest in 2014 and makes its area debut at Stage 773. Before putting on your sequined glove, keep in mind that this play about Michael Jackson isn’t a biography of his troubled life, but rather an allegory about the parallels between the King of Pop and gentrification. Something about this work feels raw and maybe even slightly unfinished, but the sharp and unpredictable dialogue put words to ideas or feelings most of us would rather ignore.

Alexis J Roston directs this sparse production. Much like the children in the play, Flying Elephant Productions seems to be operating on a shoe-string budget. That’s just fine, because you can’t buy enthusiasm and this cast has plenty of that. Roston has made her career about creating more African American visibility in the Chicago theatre community, tapping her for this project seems like a no-brainer.

‘Defacing Michael Jackson’ is about a group of black kids in a poor suburb of Miami in 1984 who worship Michael Jackson. For Jackson fans, you’ll know this is right around the time ‘Thriller’ became the album of the century, making Jackson the biggest celebrity in the world. This was of course before all the extreme face work, skin tinting and misconduct allegations. By all accounts, Jackson was the most successful black person in the world and his fans admired him for being ‘self-made.’ Fan club organizers Frenchy (Jory Pender) and Obadiah (Christopher Taylor) attempt to create a mural for their idol until a new, white kid moves to town and wants to join their club. New kid Jack (Sam Martin) is also a huge Michael Jackson fan and with his father’s money is able to sweep in and help get the mural painted, meanwhile taking all the credit. As tensions run high between the kids, their socioeconomic circumstances, and the sordid life of the world’s greatest pop star, Squire makes his point that we as a society let this happen and at times even relished in the breakdown. Jackson’s image and music are an incredibly smart metaphor for the cultural misappropriation and subjugation that has gone on for centuries.

The action of the play stays mostly around 1984, but you’d have to live under a rock to not be familiar with the slow-moving car crash that was Michael Jackson’s life through the 90's and 00's. You’d also have to be clueless to be unaware of how bad inner-city life was in America during the early 90's. As the kids discuss how the mural faded over the years while they grew up, it churns up many well-composed observations about how we dispose of celebrities after taking everything we can from them. Much the way that society has discarded entire demographics once they are no longer useful.

‘Defacing Michael Jackson’ isn’t exactly an apology for Michael Jackson, but it is written for anyone who was ever a fan. It’s a story of impoverished children coming to terms with the near impossibility of breaking the cycle of poverty.

Through August 12 at Stage 773. 1225 W Belmont Ave. 773-327-5252.

From the moment British television star Simon Slater appeared in the lighting to the side of the stage and began to describe in gritty detail the three most common ways to commit suicide, it became apparent this one-man murder mystery thriller was going to be one helluva ride. Gripping from the get go this high-charged play only became more and more engaging as the story progressed thanks to Slater’s airtight delivery and fantastic ability to convincingly take on a series of characters. 

As part of the Solo Celebration, a series of twelve one-person act shows at Greenhouse Theater Center spanning over eight months, “Bloodshot” makes its U.S. premiere after making its mark as a successful hit in London. Written by Douglas Post and directed by Patrick Sanford, Slater flawlessly weaves together a peculiar string of events, producing a smart, witty and spellbinding mystery that has traces of film noir and leaves one guessing all the way through. 

“Bloodshot” takes place in 1957 London when an ex-detective now freelance photographer finds himself smack dab in the middle of a murder mystery. Known for his capturing “blood shots” from grisly crime scenes, he takes on a different type of assignment when he is hired – and paid handsomely – by an unknown employer to secretly take photos of a beautiful young woman. He is soon thrust in the middle of a murder mystery that takes on many unexpected turns the deeper he investigates.

While taking the audience along on this thrilling tale of murder, Slater’s skill in becoming the handful of characters sprinkled into the story is nothing short of remarkable, and the dialogue exchanges just as impressive. As an American jazz club musician, Slater demonstrates his talent as a saxophonist and he adeptly plugs away at the ukulele while immersing into a slew of vaudeville-esque jokes as a comic. Slater also performs a jaw-dropping magic trick as a club owner who entertains his patrons as a magician, swallowing several razor blades in the process. 

Slater is a force to be reckoned with as he takes a well-written story and single-handedly creates an illusion of a large scale production and does so seamlessly. “Bloodshot” has everything a theatre goer desires from a fetching storyline abundant in intrigue, brilliant acting, humor and a display of musical talent. Simon Slater is someone you cannot help but enjoy watching perform.  

Highly recommended, “Bloodshot” is being performed at Greenhouse Theater Center through September 10th. For tickets and/or more show information, visit www.GreenhouseTheater.org.            

When it comes to an engaging mystery thriller, the need for finely-written, well-executed twists, turns and the unexpected are imperative. Afterall, a good suspense story on stage that has the ability to genuinely captivate its audience members can be one of the most enjoyable theatrical experiences we can have. In Drury Lane’s current production Deathtrap, we get just that. Deathtrap, written by Ira Levin in 1978 and later becoming a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, is a whodunnit that pulls you in keeps you guessing so that just when you think you’ve figured it out, another curveball is thrown.

Upon entering the theatre, we are met with the interior of a Victorian house with a rustic interior. Swords, poster tins of plays and antiques such as Houdini’s handcuffs and collectible pistols decorate the walls and shelves. When looking closely, it appears the way the rafters are cut suggest we could be looking into a massive trap. 

It all starts when a theatre professor, a former flourishing playwright, Sidney Bruhl, takes notice of a play written by one of his students, Cliff Anderson. It’s brilliant - a sure fire hit. It’s been a looooong time since Bruhl has had a successful play and there is no reason to think he is on the brink of anything else that could make waves in the theatre world. When Bruhl promptly invites Anderson - along with his single transcript - to his country home where he lives alone with his wife, Myra, the suspense begins and only thickens as we wonder if Sydney is capable of murdering for a hit show. The well-written dialogue keeps one on edge, moving back and forth from friendly banter to that of a suspicious nature. Adding to the intrigue are Myra’s suspicions and the interactions of Helga, the Bruhl’s neighbor who possesses psychic abilities. 

Daniel Cantor as Sydney Bruhl and Aaron Latterall as Cliff Anderson are brilliant together as they lock horns in their highly engaging cat and mouse exchanges, each performing magnificently while McKinley Carter as Myra offers strong support and is able to cement the growing tension to enhance the audience’s intrigue even further. Though plenty of witty dialogue between players to incite a good share of laughs, Cindy Gold as Helga den Dorp is absolutely hysterical as the psychic neighbor, causing quite a stir with her “visions” that often includes exaggerated body language and heavy moaning. 

We are constantly asked the question on what we would actually do to gain success, no matter what has shown up in our past nature or not, should the opportune moment take place. Should the temptation be great enough, should we know we would get away with, let’s say a crime of significance, we generally rely on the thing deep inside ourselves that would not allow us to go to such extreme measures - to take such action - most people anyway. But what happens when one’s morale compass fails us them - is absent? What is one’s breaking point?

Deathtrap is a nearly perfect psychological thriller. Add that to the fact that this particular production boasts exceptional acting performances, a detailed set that draws one in before the show even begins and a healthy diet of humor, and it would be impossible not to recommend this fantastic play.

Wonderfully directed by William Osetek Deathtrap is being performed at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook through August 14th. For tickets and/or show information, visit www.drurylanetheatre.com.