Review: The Four of Us/Theater Wit

Usman Ally and Collin Geraghty/Photo: Johnny Knight

RECOMMENDED

It can get dangerously tedious, a play about a playwright and his novelist friend talking about the art and craft of writing throughout an entire play. But Itamar Moses’ critical darling “The Four of Us” not only edges past that basic premise to explore the longstanding mutual envy between the friends, but also, with a daring metatheatrical twist, manages to upend your every preconceived notion about the act of writing and acts of bitter friendship. “Frenemies” since they met ten years before at a young musicians’ summer camp, David nevertheless becomes the more jealous when Benjamin lands a book deal, while he struggles with unfortunate Midwestern productions of his plays, even though he’s always been more successful with women than David. Moses mischaracterizes the Midwest, as this is a sharp, brisk and funny Chicago premiere, featuring Usman Ally and Collin Geraghty in impressive turns as David and Benjamin respectively. I could have done without the Nickelback music cue; in general, the play has a slight but unnecessary reliance on current pop culture. But Theater Wit’s production of this incisively witty play is not to be missed. (Neal Ryan Shaw)

Theater Wit, 1229 West Belmont, (773)975-8150. Through December 4.

Loveless Truths: A Review of "The Whistleblower" at Theater Wit Eli is a TV writer who has become sick of writing fictional stories about fantasy heroes, and instead decides to speak only hard, personal truths designed to free himself and others from the grip of life-limiting self-deceptions. Honesty will be his superpower.
Déjà Vu, I Think We’ve Seen This All Before: A Review of Mr. Burns a Post-Electric Play at Theater Wit Playwright Anne Washburn succinctly crafted a show that demonstrated the cyclical nature of human storytelling, theater and life itself all in the span of three hours.
Dreary But Not Scary: A Review of The Gift Theatre's “The Locusts” at Theater Wit As depicted in “The Locusts,” life in Vero Beach, Florida is so nasty and brutish that it almost seems a not-totally-bad thing that it’s short, too, at least for the victims of the serial killer stalking the town’s young girls.
The Winds of Change Are Here: Hurricane Diane at Theater Wit madeleine george’s modern-day Greek comedy “Hurricane Diane” could not have come at a better time.
Theater Is Participation: A Review of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight at American Blues Theater Featuring a bravura performance by Jim Ortlieb, this show is all about getting reacquainted with the joys, stresses and sheer sensation of real life after a too-long hibernation.
Right Is Right: A Review of "Big River" at Mercury Theater "Big River" is a musical based on Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, with songs by Roger Miller. Mercury Theater’s production is crisply moving, superbly sung and highly entertaining.

Related Stories