“A powerfully performed production...Toward the end, ‘All Our Children’ loses its vital restraint and teeters into luridness, but until then it makes compelling, conventional drama. This is a play about the care that people, and nations, owe to the weakest among them. It is, at its core, about the sanctity of life. And while that may sound rooted in religion, the idea is far more basic.”
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"It is careful, well thought out, and surprisingly false...Von Galen is a fascinating figure -- both heroic and morally blind -- and somebody ought to write a play about him. Here, he is a figure cut from good German cardboard. Ethan McSweeny's direction is efficient in terms of pace, but his handling of the actors is notably uneven...Ostensibly a disturbing, provocative drama, 'All Our Children' is a wooden, obvious piece of work."
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"In a concise 90-minutes Mr. Unwin’s masterful writing expertly blends exposition, documentary detail and drama...Director Ethan McSweeny's excellent work with the cast is matched by his accomplished physical staging on the four-sided playing area...'All Our Children' vividly dramatizes this chapter in history and subtly parallels the contemporary world scene with its depiction of a totalitarian mindset."
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"Manages to both impress, captivate, as well as entertain...Experienced playwright Stephen Unwin has smartly provided all of the characters with clear backgrounds and personal opinions which become clearly identified as the play progresses...Ethan McSweeny achieves remarkable results directing this production in the round. It creates a marvelous juxtaposition, a sense of both intimacy and appropriate uneasiness of the subject matter...This is an unflawed production in every way."
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“Acted with care and vicious depth, I was glad I went to see ‘All Our Children’...to witness the unfolding of this horrific story, and the love that rises up from it...The play reflects the fanaticism, the persecution of those not like us, that is happening right now in our own backyard. Horrifying to think we have the capacity for such hate and single-mindedness...This is not an easy play to watch as it will tear at your soul, but it is well, well worth the watch.”
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"A drama that, unfortunately, is more valuable as a history lesson (…with contemporary relevance) than as consistently engrossing theater…As various horrendous facts are elicited, von Galen can do little but question the atheistic doctor's feelings, express his Christian empathy, note his disgust, and argue for the value of human life, all things that brook no dispute, regardless of one's religion. The result is a one-sided debate that, for all its implicit interest, barely catches emotive fire."
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“Unwin’s modern-day morality play...It is Tasha Lawrence performance that is the heart and the soul of this piece...McSweeny's direction keeps the play moving, but it is really Savage’s set of piles of file cabinets that give us the clue of the numbers killed. I wished they had been used more. Unwin’s script brings our focus to this discrimination and persecution, but in my opinion not enough. I would have liked this play to tell me more.”
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"A glimpse at a little-known part of the Holocaust. Unwin includes all the various perspectives...The result is a thorough look at the situation...The script could use a rewrite. The first half hour drags and doesn't make clear what is happening...The topic of doctors making choices about who gets to live and die is relevant in the face of recent headlines."
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