BackOfThroat Reviews
/ by Guest UserThe show is as technically impressive as it is masterfully executed. The stage is perfectly set with a first-rate design team. This show is as polished as the shoes of a fledgling Federal Agent.
Read MoreThe play manipulates us to sympathize-against our better judgment and reason-both with the twisted reasoning that guides the Kafka-esque interrogation and the sense of injustice and oppression that motivated the attackers. This is not a comfortable experience, but it's gripping and worthwhile in a way that few plays manage to achieve.
Read MoreIt's harrowing to the point where it's difficult to watch, and not because the performances are anything less than excellent or because Stuart Carden's direction never misses a step... With a cast capable of moving in a blink from hilarious absurdity to horrifying intensity and a story that is tragically timely, Back of the Throat deserves a place on the must-see lists.
Read MoreMultiple and conflicting narrative strands (all fluidly directed by Stuart Carden) and an ambiguous ending make El Guindi's politics clear: Khaled's guilt or innocence is not the point--illustrating the degrading experience of being mercilessly prodded and emotionally plundered in the name of our security and this country is.
Read MoreYussef El Guindi's pitch-black exploration of the domestic war on terror opens, like Kafka's Trial, with an Arab-American man confronted in his home by investigators whose strained politeness barely covers an underlying menace. The first half of the play is bitterly funny, an apt and chilling depiction of the corporate-minded police state: Writer Khaled (Bandealy), accused of shadowy links to the perpetrators of a recent, unspecified Tragic Event, may not have access to a lawyer, but he's more than welcome to fill out an evaluation form about his interrogation.
Read MoreIt is the company's inaugural show in its revamped space at the Chicago Temple, which is now the classiest church basement theater in town. Stuart Carden's crisp direction lives up to the expectations of the troupe's new venue.
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