On Saturday, I saw three plays at  the rhino fest ,Eugene O'Reilly's tight short drama Karmas Curse, the triumphant return to rhino of BOY GIRL,4 smart writers.

If I was looking for theater that amuses me and make me think, I would have walked away satisfied...but I stayed at the theater that night  and here comes SWEETBACK'S latest production , Shopping with Ghosts at Goodwill, mostly written and produced by Kelly Anchors . I was blown away, this should not come as a surprise to me, the past year two of SWEETBACK'S productions have landed on my list of the most powerful work coming out of the Chicago fringe, that Fringe far eclipse any shows that i have seen at Goodman or the Steppenwolf...

Sweetback's current production is a cocktail of genuine loss and grief, Hamlet in many styles, thrift store shopping, eulogy, and political outrage.

Kelly Anchors is funny, electric, courageous in the narrator role and the Prince of Denmark, she left this viewer weeping several times. She is ably assisted by her Sweetback cohorts; Mike McKune, Paul Brennan , and Max McKune, who take over with their jugband from the back porch of heaven, handing Hamlet back to us in new guises ...new comer, Stephen Overhardt, at the piano, spins a blues out of Ophelia's plight and Annie Yolom almost takes over the night with a great vocal performance or three ...everybody sings with gusto and the Shakespeare -from -hair ending made me want hit the streets with a bullhorn and bail money. None of this feels sloppy or thrown together,  there is a purposeful quality to all of Anchors’ work. Only one more performance , there should be a 100 ...Sweetback is doing the best work in town Right now , see it.

beau o'reilly