Chicago’s Silent Theatre Company has garnered both local and national reknown over the last few years for its stage adaptations of silent films. Their latest endeavor is based on the Jazz Age epic poem The Set Up by Joseph March. It’s a tale of an African American boxing legend, just out of prison and past his prime, trying to get back into the fight game one more time, with dire consequences. True to form Silent Theatre’s actors work mostly in pantomime, with the bulk of the story told by a narrator. Our Dueling Critics Kelly Kleiman and Jonathan Abarbanel duke it out over the production.

On Stage:
Silent Theatre’s The Set-Up
Through October 4
Prop Theatre

Jonathan’s Pick:
Timeline Theatre Company All My Sons
Through October 4
Greenhouse Theater

Music Button: Ahmad Jamal, “Surry With The Fringe On Top”, from the CD Cross Country Tour 1958-1961, (Chess records)