Best Chicago theater performances of 2011
The best performance of the year was a solo tour de force, but most of the other memorable feats of Chicago acting in 2011 were the beating heart of soaring ensembles. Some of the actors on our Top-10 list are in their twenties, but the incomparable Mike Nussbaum is 89 years old on Dec. 29. Some sang and danced; several oozed sensuality; many had a whiff of danger; more than a few were willing to dig very deep into the psyche and the soul. Here are 10 remarkable feats on Chicago-area stages that won't be put away with the holiday decorations. They'll live on, if only in the honor roll of the mind. - Chris Jones
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1. Tim Kane, 'An Iliad' at Court Theatre
The show came at the very end of the year and his character was an enigmatic figure who did not belong to any particular time and place. But Timothy Edward's Kane's jaw-dropping solo performance as the Poet in Court Theatre¿s "An Iliad" was the piece of acting that provoked the most conversation and widespread admiration in 2011. Aside from Kane's astonishing command of the script, he made clear to everyone in the theater that telling the story of human conflict was coming at enormous cost to the teller. In some shows, excellent acting requires the actor to make everything look effortless. "An Iliad" was the opposite. Kane made our hair stand on end.
Up next: Appearing in February in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. |
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