Closing Soon: Have You Seen These Shows?

By Julienne Bilker in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 18, 2010 6:40PM

production photo from The Long Red Road by Liz Lauren

We'll spare you the dramatic intro we laid on you in the last installment of this series - but if you've seen either of these shows, please tell us what you thought.

The Long Red Road - Goodman Theatre - closing Sunday
In this world premiere, written by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, a man "drinks away his life on an Indian reservation in South Dakota, where he has been trying to forget his role in a tragic accident involving his family. When a visitor from his past arrives on the reservation, [he] is forced to face his guilt and to take a harrowing look at the man he has become." The Tribune's Chris Jones calls the show a "raw and arresting," and has some good things to say about the performances, particularly from high school sophomore Fiona Robert. That's right, high school sophomore. Do you know what we were doing when we were 16? Err, we better not say.

Uncle Vanya - Strawdog Theatre - closing Sunday
Tickets to Chicago Shakespeare Theater's World's Stage Production (by Russian group Maly Drama Theatre) might be sold out, but you can still catch Strawdog's well-reviewed version. According to Megan Powell at Time Out, Chekhov's "exhortation for the natural depiction of the human condition onstage is stunningly realized in Senior’s rather dark production of Columbus’s blunt, droll translation. Varying shades of misery, from taut repression to slaphappy bromides, are subtly treated by director and the Strawdog team, now old hands at displaying the comedy of “real life” that Chekhov demanded of the theater."