world premiere
steppenwolf theatre company 2014
playwright: Deborah Zoe Laufer
direction: Hallie Gordon
scenic design: Brian Sidney Bembridge
projection design: Anna Henson
lighting design: JR Lederle
costume design: Brian Sidney Bembridge
sound design: Rick Sims
In Hallie Gordon’s stylish, high-octane staging, the audience is invited into the gamer’s lair... her design team have created an immersive experience, from the pre-show Guitar Hero game,...Brian Sidney Bembridge, responsible for the set and costumes, has created a true gamer’s paradise, complete with mini-fridge stocked with beer and energy drinks, patched drywall, stuffed Angry Birds, Mario blanket, Frogger posters and controllers from every game system on the market. His costumes eloquently capture the characters’ immersion in game culture with a wide range of game-related t-shirts (including Ian’s very apt MLG T-shirt) and their attempts to join the real world in various costumes related to those roles. chicagostgestandard.com
Scenic designer Brian Bembridge’s set might be the most realistic part of the play: The apartment’s industrial carpet and poster-covered plaster walls clearly indicate that the gaming equipment costs more than everything else combined. His costuming choices are also great, marking the passage of time by having characters change between different nerdy shirts, or just having Ian don a different color of sweatpants. stageandcinema.com
The fine interplay of the actors is enhanced by Brian Sidney Bembridge’s set and costumes, Rick Sims’ sound design, and Anna Henson’s elaborate newsreel-like projections in this play that is all about growing up and looking real life directly in the face. Chicago Sun-Times
Brian Sidney Bembridge’s detailed set also deserves an honorable mention. It gives you the perfect cave-like and isolated feel that was required. ...the overall acting, directing, set and projection designs are fantastic... Splash Magazine
Everything about these guys looks perfectly day-in-the-life ordinary. Projection Designer Anna Henson creates the game visuals on Scenic Designer Brian Sidney Bembridge’s unfinished basement wall showcasing how war game imagery has gotten so intense and vivid. This isn’t a Mario and Luigi scenario. These video games have clearly leveled up. The technology progression is impressive. fourthwalsh.com
Brian Sidney Bembridge’s scenic design and Anna Henson’s projections providing an impressively immersive gaming experience. For Steppenwolf for Young Adults, it’s an impressively up-to-date and uncondescending treatment of the world online and off. Time Out Chicago
they capture all of this by keeping a claustrophobic yet welcoming environment, thanks to a closed-in space. It’s claustrophobic because we know the disastrous outcomes that arise from Ian’s drone striking, but it’s welcoming because we can understand why these four characters want to stay in this room: to escape reality. chicagotheatrebeat.com
It is full of street language and ample us of the F-word. While that is not new to the teens, the play seems to validate its usage. I believe that theatre needs to uplift language not resort to the lowest usage. Folks wouldn’t allow teachers in a high school to use the F-word so why does theatre do so? But the look of the show was spot on. chicagocritic.com
photos: Brian Sidney Bembridge