Le Bon Travel & Culture
  • Home
  • Theater
    • The Doppelganger
    • Our Great Tchaikovsky
    • An Enemy of the People
    • Anthem Comes Alive on Stage
    • Chicago Shakespeare's New Season
    • Mary Stuart
    • The Wolves
    • Joffrey Ballet's New Season
    • A Midsummer Night's Dream
    • Blind Date
    • Red Velvet
    • Puff: Believe It or Not
    • The Nutcracker 2017
    • A Wonderful Life
    • The Crucible
    • The Rembrandt
    • A View from the Bridge
    • Bullets Over Broadway
    • United Flight 232
    • Madagascar
    • The Tin Woman
    • Romeo & Juliet-In the Park >
      • Ah, Wilderness!
    • Update Safe Space Theater
    • The Critical Affair
    • The Destruction of Chicago Theater
    • London Assurance
    • Steppenwolf Shuts Down
    • Ragtime
    • Chicago Shakespeare Yard
    • Pamplona
    • Relativity
    • Objects in the Mirror
    • Shakespeare in Love
    • Cavalia
    • Mary Poppins
    • Beyond Caring
    • Destiny of Desire
    • Spamilton
    • The Scene
    • Uncle Vanya
    • Straight White Men
    • The Book of Joseph
    • The Bodyguard
    • Gloria
    • The Christians
    • Phantom of the Opera
    • Curious Incident of Dog
    • Pygmalion
    • Finding Neverland
    • King Charles III
    • Hamilton
    • The Burials
    • Civil Strife
    • Wonderful Town
    • Black Slot
    • Bakersfield Mist
    • Kinky Boots
    • Bloodshot
    • C.S. Lewis
    • War Paint
    • The Book of Mormon
    • Thaddeus and Slocum
    • SpongeBob
    • Chicago Theatrical Tour
    • Tony Awards 2016
    • Soups, Stews
    • Jack Zimmerman's Stories
    • Tug of War
    • Sign in Sidney Brustein's
    • Chicago
    • The Producers
    • Mary Page Marlowe
    • Carlyle
    • Irving Berlin
    • Arcadia
    • Matilda
    • Blood Wedding
    • Matchmaker
    • 42nd Street
    • Othello
    • Cabaret
    • Man Murdered Sherlock
    • Murdering Sherlock Holmes
    • Gotta Dance
    • Domesticated
    • The Heir Apparent
    • Beautiful
    • 1984
    • Ride the Cyclone
    • Treasure Island
    • Unspeakable
    • Disgraced
    • Funnyman
    • The Tempest
    • Bad Jews
    • Grand Concourse
    • Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
    • Moby Dick
    • On Your Feet
    • Stop. Reset.
    • Once
    • The Little Foxes
    • Jersey Boys-Day of Show $25
    • Sense and Sensibility
    • The Audience
    • Ring of Fire
    • The Herd
    • Louis and Keely 'Live'
    • The Upstairs Concierge
    • Two Trains Running
    • First Wives Club
    • Dear John Hughes
    • Dunsinane
    • Marie Antoinette
    • Rapture, Blister, Burn
    • Lookingglass Alice
    • Airline Highway
    • Cinderella
    • Newsies
    • Pericles
    • Annie
    • Animal Farm
    • Amazing Grace Soars
    • Renewal in Amazing Grace
    • Smokefall Encore
    • The Night Alive
    • The World of Extreme Happiness
    • King Lear
    • Death Tax
    • Puppets Coming to Chicago
    • Lighting Up Chicago Stages-Fall Theater 2014
    • London Theatre Bans Jewish Film Festival
    • The Qualms
    • Brigadoon-theater review
    • The Last Ship
    • In the Garden: A Darwinian Love Story
    • Ask Aunt Susan
    • Tony Awards-2014
    • Free Shakespeare in the Parks
    • The White Snake
    • Henry V
    • Motown The Musical
    • The Wizard of Oz
    • The Sound of Music
    • Shakespeare's 450th Birthday
    • Peter and the Starcatcher
    • Road Show
    • Venus in Fur
    • Ain't Misbehavin'
    • The Phantom of the Opera
    • Smokefall
    • Lord of the Flies
    • Cyrano de Bergerac
    • Evita
    • Stella & Lou
  • Movies
    • Chappaquiddick
    • The Death of Stalin
    • 7 Days in Entebbe
    • The 15:17 to Paris
    • Phantom Thread
    • Dunkirk
    • Wonder Woman
    • The Zookeeper's Wife
    • Bitter Harvest
    • Gold
    • The Founder
    • Hacksaw Ridge
    • Snowden
    • Chicago's 52 Film Festival
    • Sully
    • Florence Foster Jenkins
    • America: Imagine the World without Her
    • 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
    • Where to Invade Next opens
    • Trumbo
    • Truth
    • Where to Invade Next
    • Bridge of Spies
    • The Martian
    • Self/Less
    • Jurassic World
    • Spy
    • International Films-Free
    • Woman in Gold
    • Kingsman: The Secret Service
    • Fifty Shades of Sadism
    • American Sniper
    • Unbroken
    • The Interview
    • Annie-movie review
    • The Imitation Game
    • The Ten Best Ever Political Films
    • Interstellar
    • Before I Go To Sleep
    • Birdman
    • St. Vincent
    • Fury
    • The Judge
    • Stars on the Red Carpet-Chicago International Film Festival
    • Gone Girl
    • The Equalizer
    • The Maze Runner
    • A Walk Among the Tombstones
    • Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?
    • The Identical
    • The Best Movie Year-75th Anniversary
    • Chicago International Film Festival
    • The Giver-movie review
    • The Hundred-Foot Journey
    • And So It Goes
    • Magic in the Moonlight
    • A Most Wanted Man
    • Persecuted
    • Chef
    • The Railway Man
    • Agatha Christie Films in DVD
    • The Grand Budapest Hotel
    • Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt?
    • August: Osage County
    • The Wolf of Wall Street
    • Saving Mr. Banks
    • The Book Thief
    • The Butler
    • Elysium
    • The Heat
    • The Scarlet Pimpernel
  • Books
    • Architect of the Sydney Opera House
    • Dinner with Churchill
    • A People's Tragedy
    • The American Miracle
    • The Black Widow
    • Finding Home
    • I Wanna Be A Producer
    • Foreign Agent
    • Into the Black
    • Why the Jews?
    • Robert Doisneau
    • The Perks of Victimhood
    • The Wright Brothers
    • National Geographic's Abroad at Home
    • Edge of Eternity
    • The True Believer
    • A World Lit Only By Fire
    • London Book of Lists
    • World's Best Cities
    • Baudelaire's Revenge
    • The Dog Lover's Guide To Travel
    • Operation Damocles
    • Where the Locals Go
    • Capitalism and the Jews
    • The Resistance Man
    • The Wealth Creators
    • The Emperor's New Clothes
    • Capturing the Light
    • Animal Farm
    • Fire and Light: How the Enlightenment Transformed Our World
    • Plain Jane
    • Before There Was Hollywood, There Was Chicago
    • Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast
    • Killing Lincoln
    • Picasso: Creator and Destroyer
    • John Steinbeck Book Festival
  • Art
    • Winslow Homer
    • Sorolla and Fashion
    • Wild Encounters
    • Frederic Remington at the Met
    • Rodin: The Human Experience
    • Australia's Impressionists
    • William Merritt Chase
    • Sorolla and the Paris Years
    • Painting the Modern Garden
    • Edvard Munch
    • Dutch Golden Age
    • Gustave Caillebotte
    • Anthony Quinn's Art at National Hellenic Museum
    • Klimt's The Woman in Gold on Exhibit
    • Magritte Exhibit-The Revolt Against Reason
    • Legendary Photographer Edward Steichen at Art Institute of Chicago
    • Norman Rockwell's American Spirit
    • Chicago International Art Show
    • Renaissance to Goya
    • John Singer Sargent Watercolors
    • Art Recreates Life in Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity
    • International Antiques Fair
    • Picasso and Chicago
    • Museo Picasso: Early Works
  • Travel
    • Dead Sea Scrolls
    • San Antonio Rodeo
    • Paris Skullduggery
    • Surreal Spain: On the Trail of Slavador Dali
    • Art Lovers Fort Worth
    • Great Train Journeys
    • Romancing the Rails
    • Arizona-Chgo Travel & Adventure Show
    • Lascaux Cave Revisited
    • London for the Uninitiated
    • Roman Spain-Tarragona
    • Cinematic Paris
    • Race to Mackinac
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Dressing Downtown
    • Chicago Travel & Adventure Show
    • Lumiere London
    • Food, Wine, and 450 Years of History
    • In the Footsteps of the French Revolution
    • A Walk Through Jewish History-Prague
    • On the Trail of the Magna Carta
    • Chicago Travel & Adventure Show
    • Israeli Opera Festival at Masada
    • How To Be The World's Smartest Traveler
    • Santa Fe: Opera Under the Stars
    • Austin City Limits and More
    • Guide to British Royal Residences
    • Jane Austen's England-200 Years of Pride and Prejudice
    • Lincoln's Springfield
    • Happy Birthday Cole Porter
    • Napa Valley Arts Festival
    • Picasso's Spanish Trail
    • Opening the Vaults: Wonders of the 1893 World's Fair
    • Nantucket Wine and Books
  • Opera
    • Lyric opera Dance Auditions
    • Faust
    • Cosi fan tutte
    • I Puritani
    • Lyric Opera 2018/19 auditions
    • Turandot
    • The Pearl Fishers
    • Die Walkure
    • Audition
    • Rigoletto
    • Orphée et Eurydice
    • Lyric Opera's 2017/18 Season
    • My Fair Lady
    • Owens + Brownlee
    • Charlie Parker's Yardbird
    • Eugene Onegin
    • Carmen
    • Norma
    • The Magic Flute
    • Don Quichotte
    • Anti-Semitic Opera Coming to the Met
    • Les Troyens
    • Lucia di Lammermoor
    • Das Rheingold
    • The King and I
    • Roméo et Juliette >
      • Tenors and Terrorism at the Metropolitan Opera
    • Der Rosenkavalier
    • Nabucco
    • Bel Canto
    • The Tails of Huddleston and Xena
    • The Merry Widow
    • Wozzeck
    • Cinderella
    • The Marriage of Figaro
    • Lyric Opera Launches 61st Season
    • Stars of Lyric Opera 2015
    • Carousel
    • The Passenger
    • Tannhäuser
    • Tosca
    • Anna Bolena
    • Memory and Reckoning for Lyric Premiere
    • Porgy and Bess
    • Il Trovatore
    • Porgy and Bess Returns
    • Capriccio Soars at the Lyric
    • Don Giovanni Seduces All
    • Lyric Opera Chorus Fall Concerts
    • World Premieres by Lyric Unlimited
    • New Concert Shell for Lyric
    • Lyric Opera Dance Auditions
    • Fort Worth 2014 Opera Festival
    • La clemenza di Tito
    • Rusalka
    • The Barber of Seville
    • Lyric Opera of Chicago's Diamond Anniversary
    • Behind the Curtain of the Lyric Opera of Chicago
    • Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces Chorus Auditions
    • Die Fledermaus
    • La Traviata
    • Parsifal
    • Madama Butterfly
    • Otello
    • Oklahoma
  • Music
    • Celebrating 100 Years of Leonard Bernstein
    • A Musical Summer
    • Beethoven Closing Festival
    • Harris Theater 2016
    • Baritones Unbound
    • Itzhak Perlman
    • Ravinia Summer 2015
    • The 8th Annual Chicago Dancing Festival
    • Music is in the Air-Santa Fe
    • Milwaukee's Summerfest
    • Montreal International Jazz Festival
    • Springtime for Spoleto
    • Ravinia-Summer of Love
    • Chicago's Music Festival-Summer 2014
    • Tanglewood: Summer 2014
    • Annual Chicago Jazz Festival
  • Food/Wine
    • Key West Food & Wine Festival
    • Great Lobster Fest
    • Outrageous Dining
    • Grape Stomping at GrapeFest
    • Santa Fe's Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown
    • South Beach Wine & Food Festival
    • The Kohler Food & Wine Experience
    • Newport Food & Wine Festival
    • Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • New Contact Us
Picture
l-r Kate Arrington, Keith Kupferer p: Michael Brosilow
Picture
l-r David Pasquesi, Kirsten Fitzgerald, Paul Oakley Stovall p: Michael Brosilow
Picturel-r Greg Stuhr, Karen Aldridge
Theater Review
July 16, 2014

The Qualms

by Betty Mohr

It’s all about sex, but it’s not sexy. Actually, The Qualms, now in a world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, is plodding and dull. 

Playwright Bruce Norris, in an interview in the Steppenwolf playbill, admits to wanting to make people feel uncomfortable watching his plays because he believes uncomfortable is dramatic. But in his new work, the discomfort comes, not from shock, but from boredom.

He believes that juvenile and gross references to body parts will have the audience salivating, but it doesn’t. That’s because The Qualms is so smutty adolescent that there is no emotional connection or sexual tension between the characters. They’re all going through the motions of pretending to want sex from each other, but the characters are so emotionless and so wooden that they really seem uninterested in each other—and they’re certainly uninteresting to us.

The play is set (by scenic designer Todd Rosenthal) in an upscale beach house in which Gary (Keith Kupferer) and his wife Teri (Kate Arrington) have invited guests to a party. One by one they arrive.  There’s smug Roger (David Pasquesi) and his girlfriend of the moment, Regine (Karen Aldridge), who prances through the party in a lady-of-the-night outfit; Deb (Kirsten Fitzgerald), a widow who partners with bi-sexual Roger (Paul Oakley Stovall); and Chris (Greg Stuhr), a financial consultant, and his not-so-enthralled-with-her-husband wife Kristy (Diane Davis).

Almost everyone in the creepy crew is swapping partners and trying to have casual sex with everyone in front of everyone. The only one who believes that sex should be a spiritual and emotional connection is Chris. At first, he seems to be the only one who seems to have a spark of intelligence. He’s called a conservative because he thinks that “This is about as sexy as watching two dogs in the street.” But, Chris soon wimps out, gives in to peer pressure, and ends up apologizing to the motley group for not wanting to sleep with anyone but his wife.

The play is supposed to be a comedy, but it’s not funny. At 90 minutes with no intermission, the play, directed by Pam MacKinnon, feels torturously like it will never end. The characters drone on and on delivering diatribes that sound like pompous lectures. They’re basically arguing in defense of unthinking animal instincts.  Get rid of the mind, they say, the flesh is everything. 

Watching The Qualms, I felt embarrassed for the fine actors who are wasted in this production. Many in the audience also looked to be wasted—out of time and money—by this yawner of a show.

The Qualms
When: Through August 31, 2014
Where: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted Street, Chicago
Tickets: $80-$86
Information: Call 312.335.1650 or visit www.steppenwolf.org

Tweet
Lufthansa Banner

Copyright 2018 Le Bon Travel & Culture-All Rights Reserved