Spotlight on Reviews

**** Highly Recommended **** The gripping political drama “Oslo” is definitely in my top five plays of the year.  In fact, the improbable and complicated story of a series of secret meetings between the Israelis and the Palestinians in Oslo makes for a brilliant play!  Who knew secret meetings between diplomats – the epitome of boring, at least in public – could become such an interesting play?  If a play starts to drag, I have a bad habit of zoning out for a few minutes.  Guess what?  I didn’t zone out because “Oslo” never drags!   Put this remarkable play on your Must-See list!  4 BIG Spotlights

***RECOMMENDED***  Cambridge University, while largely recognized as one of the world's best academic institutions for obtaining a solid education, has never really been considered a particularly progressive place of study.  In the hundreds of years of its history (well over 700), it finally allowed women to enroll as students in 1869, with the foundation of Girton College, created specifically for the bright and fiercely driven women who desired a level of higher learning. While these women were allowed to study, there was no formal degree that they were granted upon the completion of their course work, unlike their male counterparts. This historical injustice is explored in Promethean Theatre Ensemble's Chicago premiere of playwright Jessica Swale's "Blue Stockings," a highly entertaining and refreshingly enlightening play. 3 AND 1/2 SPOTLIGHTS

**** Recommended **** Recently I took a drive to Lifeline Theatre, a small (99 seats) venue in Rogers Park to see “Whose Body?” at Lifeline Theatre. I was intrigued by the idea of a stage play featuring one of my favorite characters, Lord Peter Wimsey, written by one of my favorite authors, Dorothy L. Sayers.  Everything is spot on – the acting, the  ‘veddy, veddy’ British accents, the costumes and the set.  4 Spotlights

Highly Recommended ***** I have often said that when Janet  Ulrich Brooks is in a play, any play, anywhere, I will make sure that I am in the house. I love watching her work! No matter the characters she is asked to play, they are always played to perfection. That is pretty much proved again in her latest triumph, “Tiny Beautiful Things” based on the book by Cheryl Strayed and adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos.