(Hedy Weiss’s article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, 1 /27.)
Here are a few things you should know about Neil LaBute’s paired programs of 11 one acts, which are organized under the separate titles, “Virtues” and “Vices,” and are now receiving highly polished, intensely acted performances at Profiles Theatre:
- The great majority of these one- and two-character plays will crawl right under your skin, leaving you chastened, questioning and nodding. But also, at times, you might be ready to shout: “Okay, this time you’ve just pushed things too far.”
- If you’re looking for any clear differentiation between LaBute’s assessment of the nature of virtue and vice you had best look elsewhere. Those characters who appear to behave virtuously invariably do so in order to get something for themselves, or at best to relieve an itch. As for those who are well aware of their vices, they know just how to use the veneer of virtue to do the same. (Welcome to the world according to LaBute, who in one form or another has been exploring this rocky moral turf throughout his career.)