"There's more than enough style, shrewdness, zest and sheer theatrical panache on display in the Signal Ensemble Theatre's hyper-kinetic revival of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" to suggest this young and emerging theater company has a bright future. But this particular piece of military satire teeters so precariously on a stylistic knife-edge that it needs far more attention to consistency of tone. Heller's deeply complex piece -- which one might reasonably describe as "M*A*S*H" meets "Twelve O'Clock High" -- is one of the few World War II entries in the genre of military satire. And therein lies a lot of its narrative and satirical oomph. We're familiar with graveyard humor surrounding more modern wars. And even the first great battle of the 20th Century spawned Joan Littlewood's pacifist-leaning "Oh What a Lovely War!" But when he created his cynical bomber Yossarian, Heller flew in the face of the main cultural legacy of the "good war." "Catch-22" is not about heroism or noble causes or just battles, but about trying to sidestep one's raw fear of death. And when he was done spoofing the military, Heller ended up with an existential piece pointing to the paradox of valuing life in a culture of death. It's by no means a disrespectful piece toward those who served (as did Heller). But it makes you think about the paradoxes of our implicit assumptions surrounding any and all wars, justified or not. Brandon Bruce's production -- where nine emerging actors play more than 40 characters -- is staged on one of the best off-Loop sets all year, from set designer Melania Lancy. The capable and delightfully fresh-faced cast is strikingly credible as period pilots. And there are a slew of lively, whip-smart performances, including a very honorable turn from Daniel E. Brennan in the lead role, supported by Meredith Bell as the repository for much of Yossarian's sexual complexities. But the show becomes wearing well before its end. The main problem is that it loses its relationship with truth. Performances that start out beautifully nuanced are allowed to flail into stereotype. And at that point, Signal Ensemble starts looking like just another theater company. Heller's universe is a crazy one, for sure, but it still needs to be sufficiently credible that we feel for poor Yossarian, trapped in the original Catch-2" - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune 6/23/04


"To justify their madness, Yossarian's higher-ups constantly refer back to Catch-22, an unseen war clause that conveniently allows them to get away with anything they like, genocide included, without being questioned by anyone. Why can't they be questioned? Because Catch-22 says so. They would be happy to show it to you, but that's forbidden, too. By Catch-22. If this hitch sounds at all like a certain piece of wartime legislation crafted by John Ashcroft, you're not hallucinating. And there are plenty more parallels where that came from. Instead of underlining the painfully evident, though, Bruce's sterling cast plays the story straight. Or, rather, plays it crooked. Rooted firmly in World War II (with thanks to costume designer Laura M. Dana for a lightning-fast series of period garments and fly-boy haircuts), the Signal production maintains a boogie-woogie speed and screwball sensibility nearly throughout. Only in a harrowing flashback, in which Yossarian recalls holding a dying, eviscerated soldier, does the mayhem grind to a sobering halt. Bruce spends much of the time playing traffic cop, conducting nine actors through 41 roles. It can often be more exhausting than enjoyable to watch, but this versatile ensemble never draws attention to itself, and Bruce's transitions between machine-gunfire scenes are all but seamless. As Yossarian, Daniel E. Brennan gives the production a gravity that both anchors it and allows the rest of the dizzy characters to orbit around it. Among those in orbit are Joseph Stearns, as maniacal gasbag Colonel Cathcart, and Marcus Kimble, demonstrating ambidexterity as both a diabolic Lieutenant Colonel and a nebbishy doctor. Best of all is Jason Powers, a pint-sized actor who brings equal rigor to the cowardly Major Major, an exuberant mess-hall cook turned war profiteer, and a martini-soaked soldier's mother, among others. While many young off-Loop companies are lauded for producing either bold new work or subversive reinterpretations of classics, Signal is finding its niche by reminding us that exceeding expectation doesn't have to mean defying convention". Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun TImes 6/16/04


"CATCH-22, Signal Ensemble Theatre, at the Chopin Theatre. Every time I see the stage version of Joseph Heller's absurdist antiwar novel I find myself wishing he hadn't written it himself. Comic bits that are hilarious in the book, such as Major Major Major's order that no one is to be let into his office while he's there, feel like sketch comedy onstage. And horrifying moments in the novel--the murder of a young Italian maid, the death of Snowden--happen too quickly onstage to have much impact. Still, the play can be amusing. Especially if the folks performing it are as adept as the Signal Ensemble at switching gracefully from comedy to drama and back again. This nimbleness is all the more impressive given that most of the actors play three or four characters. Daniel E. Brennan is absolutely hysterical--in both senses of the word--as the protagonist, bombardier Yossarian. When he points out the absurdities of army life we laugh with him, and when he talks about his fear of being killed we feel his mortal terror. I wish, though, someone had told Jason Powers not to play Milo Minderbinder as Richard Simmons. (I've always pictured Minderbinder as a dead ringer for Cheney.) Powers's Major Major Major is much more subdued" - Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader 6/18/04