“Red Tape Theater and director Max Truax have engaged in battle with a little-produced Ibsen script and exploded it into a sonorous meditation and spectacle. BRAND is an ambitious production. “ -John Dalton, Centerstage
“Max Truax is, simply put, brilliant.” -Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
RECOMMENDED – Chicago Reader
Recommended “Red Tape has created a virtual reality of this classic. It’s intimate and interactive. They take complete advantage of the cavernous space to heighten the mystique. Under the direction of Max Truax, the creative design team goes gothic with a twist of deserted. Oversize sheets of plastic envelop the theatre. It’s an otherworldly cocoon that is lit to shadowy perfection by Karen M. Thompson. Truax has produced a surreal ambiance…a multi-dimensional spectacle. It’s almost like looking through a kaleidoscope. The edges are blurry. Imagery comes in and out of focus. What is being depicted is left to interpretation. The artistry is so absorbing that I’m inclined not to brand it with a definition. Red Tape’s BRAND is art!” -Katy Walsh, The Fourth Walsh
When Kerry Reid interviewed him for the Reader‘s 2011 Fall Arts Guide, director Max Truax told her, “I’m drawn to what I often refer to as ‘broken’ plays. I feel like there are great works out there that need to be told visually.” Henrik Ibsen’s Brand … is massive, difficult, and troubling. Truax has … true to his plan, given Brand a compellingly visual telling for Red Tape Theatre. When the script’s ambiguous final line was whispered into Brand’s ear, I had a giddy feeling, as if I’d looked over into something whose bottom was very far away. – Tony Adler, Chicago Reader
“The production is splattered against every surface of a church gymnasium. The design team and Truax have used the space admirably. In particular, sound designer Jonathan Guillen’s landscapes of sighs and drones and lighting designer Karen M. Thompson’s lances and washes do an excellent job shaping the environment into a stark, soaring, wintery canyon. ”Brand” shows Truax’s strengths as a choreographer; stylized movements and well-composed tableaus abound. The piece plays out like an early Bergman movie. This is worth seeing, but a lighthearted romp it ain’t. Go expecting an emotional, lyric, dreamlike art installation with some chilling moments.“ -John Dalton, Centerstage
Recommended, 3 Stars “Concentration is crucial here but there’s no questioning the conviction of this incredibly dedicated revival.The play is not for the faint-of-’mind’. It’s unapologetic in its quick delivery and demands its audience participate with an attention as absolute as the protagonist’s morality. Choose this play if you like your mettle tested against the staunchest of plays. -Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Theater Beat
“The experience is simultaneously intimate and invasive. Truax makes a lot of bold choices…he gets some seriously visceral responses out of the audience. Agnes [Amanda Drinkall], whose trippy, almost bipolar shifts from ecstasy to misery and back are as disturbing as they are mesmerizing. When Agnes, came up to me, touched my face and stoked my cheek for a moment, I felt something beyond performance, at least for a second.[BRAND] ask[s] a lot of earnest questions about theatricality, what’s possible onstage, and how theater artists can experiment in a world where seemingly everything has already been tried.” -Hank Brunhoff, Chicago Splash
“Visually, director Max Truax is, simply put, brilliant. His actors stun in their ability to memorize and embody the dialogue. Pictures that are masterpieces in German Expressionism: Truax’ creation is an art installation.” -Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
