Here is the premise of James Sherman’s latest play, currently at Victory Gardens: You’ve come a long way, baby—but then again, no, not really. Act One takes place in a Rogers Park kitchen, the year 1970. Mom is busy making eggs for dad, who sits reading the paper and stiffly contemplating his day at the office. Soon Betty Friedan enters the conversation, and all hell breaks loose when mom starts questioning her predetermined, stay-at-home status. Fast forward three-and-a-half decades to Act Two. Same kitchen, same distracted breadwinner—but this time with a gender-role switcharoo. Mom is a high-powered attorney staring distractedly into her laptop, while dad hustles to make her a frittata. It isn’t so much a tale of two generations, or even a study in contrasts, as it is convenient cliché: the spouse who stays at home wins the moral superiority contest, whereas the spouse who works is portrayed as an emotional cipher. The couples in each act (played by the same actors, Laura T. Fisher and Joe Dempsey) come across as representative samples of an era—rather than individuals—just to make a point. I’m not really sure, though, what that would be. (Nina Metz)
This production is now closed.
Related Stories
Our So-Called Half-Life: A Review of We're Gonna Be Okay at American Theater Company Will Davis continues his streak of queering American archetypes and narratives with this Chicago premiere by his longtime friend Basil Kreimendahl.- Tempers in Bloom: A Review of Native Gardens at Victory Gardens Theater RECOMMENDED In many urban American cities, houses are so close together that neighbors can see into each other’s backyards. Fences are often put up, not just to give a sense of privacy but to mark property lines, creating a visible boundary to declare what belongs to each party. What happens when those fences wither and that border line deteriorates? Moreover,…
- Disassembling the System: A Review of Pipeline at Victory Gardens Dominique Morisseau returns to Chicago with an urgent new play that maps the direct route from education to incarceration for America's youth of color.
- Apprehensive Experience: A Review of Lettie at Victory Gardens Theater In producing this play about prison and societal reintegration, Victory Gardens Theater unconsciously traffics in some of the racial dynamics that prop up the prison system.
- Thirst Entrapment: A Review of Rightlynd at Victory Gardens Theater The first of three world premieres by Ike Holter scheduled for this season is also the thirstiest play he's ever written. And that's saying something.
- Histories Repeating: A Review of If I Forget at Victory Gardens Theater This new play from Steven Levenson sees the past and present as a continuum of conflict.
