Review: In Lifeline Theatre's ‘War of the Worlds,' comedy wins out over human drama
Lifeline Theatre's new adaptation of the 1898 H.G. Wells novel 'The War of the Worlds' has many of the hallmarks of a campy sci-fi B movie: cheesy dialogue, exaggerated stock characters and visuals with the low-budget charm of mid-aughts 'Doctor Who.' With these bold stylistic choices by adapter John Hildreth and director Heather Currie, the play satirizes contemporary American society in an unconventional take on the science fiction classic. While Lifeline's version has its entertaining moments, the comedic approach comes at the expense of the story's human drama.
Hildreth's loose adaptation changes the setting from southern England to northern Illinois, name-checking a litany of familiar cities, suburbs and rural townships throughout the play. The scientists who first discovered unusual activity happening on Mars work at 'the renowned Illinois Technological Institute, outside of Skokie, Illinois,' a fictional locale that is repeatedly introduced with the exact same wording until it becomes a mantra of sorts. This setting makes sense for a Chicago production, more so than English towns such as Woking and Weybridge, but the hyperlocal references sometimes feel a bit too cute.
Professor Wittington (Mark Mendelsohn) narrates much of the action, and the dialogue is interspersed with clips of fictional TV news broadcasts — a nod to the format of Orson Welles' infamous 1938 radio adaptation, which reportedly convinced some listeners that aliens were actually attacking the United States. The professor and a small crew of scientists from the Institute, including an artificially intelligent humanoid called Assistant Professor Whitehurst (Amanda Link), investigate a series of strange explosions on the surface of Mars. Months later, the mystery is solved when cylindrical space capsules begin to crash on Earth, letting loose an army of giant metallic tripods wielding weapons that blast deadly heat rays.
With Illinois at the epicenter of a national and potentially global crisis, the play satirizes a range of all-American ideologues: conspiracy theorists, doomsday preachers, isolationists and jingoistic military types. Even J.B. Pritzker gets a sendup with Anthony Kayer's performance as the fictional governor of Illinois. Reading 'The War of the Worlds' as a satire is not a novel interpretation; Wells himself acknowledged that the book's anti-imperial themes were inspired by the brutality of European colonialism. But at Lifeline, the comedic tone is dialed up so high that the social commentary loses some of its bite.
The production team augments the cast's over-the-top performances with floor-to-ceiling tentacles (set designer Lindsay Mummert), bursts of green light from the heat rays (lighting designer Sarah Riffle) and warbling sound effects that evoke a 1950s sci-fi film (sound designer Joe Griffin). The onstage violence is occasionally macabre but never gruesome; when Whitehurst, the android, loses both arms in battle, their silver-tipped severed limbs go flying (props designer Jenny Pinson), but none of the human characters shed visible blood. Later, during the dissection of a captured Martian, the creature's blue and orange color scheme mimics the Illini jacket that the governor previously appeared in (costume designer Aly Amidei).
What gets lost in this inventive production are the human relationships that could give it more heart. For most of the play, Professor Wittington thinks that his wife, Dr. Wittington (Jocelyn Maher), has been killed by the Martians, but this emotional arc is overshadowed by the narrative weight his character bears. Since Lifeline can't recreate an alien invasion onstage any more realistically than Shakespeare could cram armies into his 'wooden O,' audience members must exercise their imaginations to picture the battles that Professor Wittington describes. There's little room for character development amid the action sequences, so the play doesn't have much of an emotional impact despite its high stakes for humankind.
The inhabitants of Earth never get answers to the question of what they've done to deserve this catastrophe, but the play points the finger back at humanity by claiming that war is our greatest export and that the militaristic Martians offer a glimpse into our collective future. Toward the end, Whitehurst has a crisis of faith, revealing that the scientists have programmed the android with some sense of belief in god and an afterlife. It's a strange interlude that hints at the often-fraught relationship between science and religion.
While hardcore sci-fi fans may be disappointed by this 'War of the Worlds,' those who appreciate the genre's more irreverent side will likely enjoy it. Lifeline never shies away from scaling epic stories to fit onto its small stage, and the company's gutsy creativity is evident in this latest world premiere.Review: 'War of the Worlds' (2.5 stars)
When: Through July 13
Where: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Tickets: $20-$45 at 773-761-4477 and lifelinetheatre.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
3 things Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o taught me: language matters, stories are universal, Africa can thrive
Celebrated Kenyan writer and decolonial scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o passed away on 28 May at the age of 87. Many tributes and obituaries have appeared across the world, but we wanted to know more about Thiong'o the man and his thought processes. So we asked Charles Cantalupo, a leading scholar of his work, to tell us more. When I heard that Ngũgĩ had died, one of my first thoughts was about how far he had come in his life. No African writer has as many major, lasting creative achievements in such a wide range of genres as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. His books include novels, plays, short stories, essays and scholarship, criticism, poetry, memoirs and children's books. Read more: His fiction, nonfiction and plays from the early 1960s until today are frequently reprinted. Furthermore, Ngũgĩ's monumental oeuvre is in two languages, English and Gĩkũyũ, and his works have been translated into many other languages. From a large family in rural Kenya and a son of his father's third wife, he was saved by his mother's pushing him to be educated. This included a British high school in Kenya and Makerere University in Uganda. When the brilliant young writer had his first big breakthrough at a 1962 meeting in Kampala, the Conference of African Writers of English Expression, he called himself 'James Ngũgi'. This was also the name on the cover his first three novels. He had achieved fame already as an African writer but, as is often said, the best was yet to come. Not until he co-wrote the play I Will Marry When I Want with Ngũgĩ wa Mirii was the name 'Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o' on the cover of his books, including on the first modern novel written in Gĩkũyũ, Devil on the Cross (Caitaani Mũtharaba-inĩ). I Will Marry When I Want was performed in 1977 in Gĩkũyũ in a local community centre. It was banned and Ngũgĩ was imprisoned for a year. And still so much more was to come: exile from Kenya, professorships in the UK and US, book after book, fiction and nonfiction, myriad invited lectures and conferences all over the world, a stunning collection of literary awards (with the notable exception of the Nobel Prize for Literature), honorary degrees, and the most distinguished academic appointments in the US, from the east coast to the west. Yet besides his mother's influence and no doubt his own aptitude and determination, if one factor could be said to have fuelled his intellectual and literary evolution – from the red clay of Kenya into the firmament of world literary history – it was the language of his birth: Gĩkũyũ. From the stories his mother told him as a child to his own writing in Gĩkũyũ for a local, pan-African and international readership. He provided every reason why he should choose this path in his books of criticism and theory. Ngũgĩ was also my friend for over three decades – through his US professorships, to Eritrea, to South Africa, to his finally moving to the US to live with his children. We had an ongoing conversation – in person, during many literary projects, over the phone and the internet. Our friendship started in 1993, when I first interviewed him. He was living in exile from Kenya in Orange, New Jersey, where I was born. We both felt at home at the start of our working together. We felt the same way together through the conferences, books, translations, interviews and the many more literary projects that followed. Since Ngũgĩ was such a voluminous and highly varied writer, he has many different important works. His earliest and historical novels like A Grain of Wheat and The River Between. His regime-shaking plays. His critical and controversial novels like Devil on the Cross and Petals of Blood. His more experimental and absolutely modern novels like Matigari and Wizard of the Crow. His epoch-making literary criticism like Decolonising the Mind. His informal and captivating three volumes of memoirs written later in life. His retelling in poetry of a Gĩkũyũ epic, The Perfect Nine, his last great book. A reader of Ngũgĩ can have many a heart's desire. My book, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: Texts and Contexts, was based on the three-day conference of the same name that I organised in the US. At the time, it was the largest conference ever held on an African writer anywhere in the world. What I learned back then applies now more than ever. There are no limits to the interest that Ngũgĩ's work can generate anytime anywhere and in any form. I saw it happen in 1994 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and I see it now 30 years later in the outpouring of interest and recognition all over the world at Ngũgĩ's death. In 1993, he had published a book of essays titled Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms. Focusing on Ngũgĩ's work, the conference and the book were 'moving the centre' in Ngũgĩ's words, 'to real creative centres among the working people in conditions of gender, racial, and religious equality'. First, African languages are the key to African development, including African literature. Ngũgĩ comprehensively explored and advocated this fundamental premise in over 40 years of teaching, lectures, interviews, conversations and throughout his many books of literary criticism and theory. Also, he epitomised it, writing his later novels in Gĩkũyũ, including his magnum opus, Wizard of the Crow. Moreover, he codified his declaration of African language independence in co-writing The Asmara Declaration, which has been widely translated. It advocates for the importance and recognition of African languages and literatures. Second, literature and writing are a world and not a country. Every single place and language can be omnicentric: translation can overcome any border, boundary, or geography and make understanding universal. Be it Shakespeare's English, Dante's Italian, Ngugi's Gĩkũyũ, the Bible's Hebrew and Aramaic, or anything else, big or small. Third, on a more personal level, when I first met Ngũgĩ, I was a European American literary scholar and a poet with little knowledge of Africa and its literature and languages, much less of Ngũgĩ himself. He was its favourite son. But this didn't stop him from giving me the idea and making me understand how African languages contained the seeds of an African Renaissance if only they were allowed to grow. I knew that the historical European Renaissance rooted, grew, flourished and blossomed through its writers in European vernacular languages. English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and more took the place of Latin in expressing the best that was being thought and said in their countries. Yet translation between and among these languages as well as from classical Latin and Greek culture, plus biblical texts and cultures, made them ever more widely shared and understood. Read more: From Ngũgĩ discussing African languages I took away a sense that African writers, storytellers, people, arts, and cultures could create a similar paradigm and overcome colonialism, colonial languages, neocolonialism and anything else that might prevent greatness. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Charles Cantalupo, Penn State Read more: Why auction of Buddha relics was called off and why it matters – an expert in Asian art explains Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre Waiting for Godot has been translated into Afrikaans: what took so long Charles Cantalupo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
Are Pesticides in Your Food Harmful?
Various chemicals, from those in plastics to food additives, have made headlines lately for their potential roles in triggering diseases. Pesticides are unique among chemicals, though, says Melissa Perry, an environmental epidemiologist and dean of George Mason's College of Public Health. 'They're deliberately manufactured to kill things.' By poisoning weeds, pesticides clear the way for farmers' crops to thrive. But their deadly design may undermine human health, too. A recent report by a new federal advisory board, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calls for further investigation of pesticides' effects to determine if their use should be limited. Some evidence does suggest that long-term exposure could lead to cancer and several other serious health problems. More research is needed to better understand these risks, but in the meantime, experts recommend simple, practical steps to reduce intake. Here's what we know about the risks of pesticides and how to lower your exposure. Research on pesticide risks The MAHA report assesses 'root causes' of poor health in U.S. children. It describes pesticides as one of eight types of chemicals giving rise to chronic diseases. The report specifically takes issue with two weed killers, glyphosate and atrazine. They're the most commonly used pesticides by American farmers, and research has focused on them in lab experiments on animals, with several concerning findings. Other studies have drawn links between glyphosate exposure—mainly by consuming trace amounts in food—and health problems, including earlier death. In 2019, a large research review identified a 'compelling link' between glyphosate intake and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans, though in 2024 a federal judge criticized this study's design and approach. Additional research points to a range of diseases potentially related to glyphosate, but a recent review by Italian researchers on glyphosate was inconclusive and called for further research. Based on the evidence, the World Health Organization (WHO) has described glyphosate as 'probably carcinogenic to humans,' whereas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found 'no evidence that glyphosate causes cancer in humans,' citing a dataset the agency considered more thorough than WHO's. The second widespread pesticide highlighted by the MAHA report is atrazine. Like glyphosate, it's been used by farmers since the 1960s, but research on animals in the 1990s began to show it could disrupt reproductive health and hormone regulation. Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, found that atrazine interfered with the sexual development of frogs. Subsequent studies showed similar effects, as well as weight gain, in mice. Researchers have also observed that women in certain agricultural communities experience higher rates of abnormal menstrual cycles, compared to places with fewer farms. Other human studies show increases in several kinds of birth defects. Still more research links atrazine to breast cancer, but researchers at the National Institutes of Health have concluded 'no evidence of an association' with cancer. The EPA estimated that atrazine adversely affects 54% of all species and 50% of all critical habitats. 'I don't know how an Environmental Protection Agency can make a statement like that and then re-register the chemical,' Hayes says. In 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showed that 99% of food samples tested below the EPA's safety limit for pesticides. However, U.S. limits are considerably higher than what's allowed in the European Union, where atrazine has been effectively banned. Pesticides called organophosphates have been studied by the EPA and others for links to neurological disorders such as ADHD. 'Research clearly shows that children exposed to higher levels did have more neurobehavioral problems,' says Jason Richardson, professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Georgia's Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research. Overall, uncertainty and debate about pesticides continues partly due to research challenges. People are typically exposed to multiple types of chemicals, so it's 'hard to attribute disease to one pesticide or pinpoint the definitive dose or exposure time' that makes people sick, Perry says. 'Just because a chemical is present doesn't mean it's doing anything bad, but in combination with other chemicals, it may be,' Richardson says. 'Efforts are underway to measure these combinations.' 'The country's agricultural policy follows science, not fear, speculation, and fringe narratives,' says Becky Langer-Curry, director of innovation at the National Corn Growers Association. The Corn Growers were 'perplexed' by the MAHA report, she adds. 'We need faith in the EPA's regulatory system to review the science. They're ensuring our food is safe, well below human risk.' In an email to EPA spokesperson Mike Bastasch said the EPA'typically regulates pesticides at least 100 times lower than where no adverse effects are seen in safety studies.' The agency is 'confident that the fruits and vegetables our children are eating are safer than ever,' Bastasch wrote. However, he added that the EPA is updating its evaluation of glyphosate's cancer-causing potential, and it's currently working on an Updated Mitigation Proposal for atrazine. In the meantime, researchers including Perry, Richardson, and Hayes think pesticides are dangerous enough that people should take precautions—but especially young kids, people who are pregnant, those who live close to farms, agricultural workers, and seniors. How to learn more about your exposure The first step is to become aware of pesticides in your environment. They're more common than people think, Perry says. 'Exposures happen routinely for most members of the American public.' Experts recommend contacting the environmental office of your county or city to learn whether you're close to a food production facility that uses pesticides. In 2017, kids and teachers at a Hawaii middle school reported unusual throat irritation and dizziness. They suspected the symptoms were caused by pesticides applied in nearby fields, and researchers found residues in the school's indoor and outdoor air samples. The detected levels were deemed below concerning thresholds. Bastasch says that, for communities near farms, the EPA studies potential exposure through the air and other pathways to make sure safety levels are based on sound science. Still, Hayes worries about the long-term effects of pesticide contact and absorption. 'For someone living in a farming community that's constantly exposed to estrogen mimics like atrazine, you're more likely to develop adverse effects,' he says. People take in atrazine mainly through their drinking water, after farm runoff carries the pesticide into local water systems. But some utilities are more effective than others at removing pesticide residues. The Environmental Working Group rates local water utilities. For people on well water, the federal government provides guidelines for testing it. Use a water filter Pesticide use is widespread enough—and disperses at such distances—that everyone should probably use a high-quality water filter, experts say. Atrazine can travel as far as 600 miles, Hayes says. As far back as 1999, USGS noticed that pesticides, including atrazine, were detected in places where farmers hadn't applied them. Even for residents of areas where a water treatment plant removes the chemicals, buying a filter certified to the NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53 provides some additional assurance of water safety. Look for filters in refrigerators and water pitchers that meet this certification. Buy organic Eating organic foods can also help to reduce intake of pesticides, especially glyphosate. About 90% of pregnant women have detectable amounts of glyphosate in their bodies, according to one study. 'But when you put people on organic diets, you start to see that they no longer have pesticides in their urine,' Perry says. Research in 2020 found that eating an organic diet dropped glyphosate levels by 70% in children and their parents. In 2023, researchers put pregnant women on an organic diet for one week. Those who went all-organic decreased glyphosate in their urine by 43%. A 2019 study found a 95% reduction in organophosphates. Wash and peel Richardson calls these studies on organic foods 'intriguing' while noting that natural compounds used in organic farming may also be toxic beyond certain thresholds. Even when eating organic, 'make sure you wash your fruits and vegetables very well,' he says. One study found that soaking apples in baking soda mixed with water for 12-15 minutes eliminated more residue than water alone. However, according to another study, washing produce with running water is superior to baking soda, sitting water, and vinegar. Other research shows a gentle rubbing action during washing is effective. Aim for 20-30 seconds or longer if you have time. Peeling the skin and outer pulp will get rid of additional residue that penetrates into some produce. There's a major downside, though: you lose a portion of the beneficial nutrients and compounds, like fiber and vitamins, that help protect against pesticide toxicity. Some research suggests that replacing processed foods with diverse whole foods can reduce how many pesticides you ingest (but some research suggests there may be fewer benefits if they're not organic). Exercise and manage stress Aside from nutrition, other lifestyle behaviors such as exercise, stress management, and good sleep may build a baseline of health that helps thwart the cumulative effects of pesticides and other pollutants. Overall, they influence how someone's body responds to their ' exposome,' Richardson explains—your total environmental exposures and how they interact with lifestyle behaviors and risk factors like age and genetics. Bastasch says the EPA assesses the combined risks of groups of pesticides that affect the body in similar ways, adding that the agency is continuing to advance research in this area. The exposome probably matters more than any one chemical type, but 'we're really just breaking the surface of understanding these interactions,' Richardson says. Until more definitive science emerges, maintain smart practices like scrubbing produce and striving for a healthy lifestyle.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Couple Quoted $500 for Dog's Sedated Nail Trim, Come up With Hilarious Plan
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When a couple were quoted a hefty $500 by their veterinarian for a sedated pet nail trim, they decided to take matters—and clippers—into their own hands, one paw at a time. The dog's owner, known as @lilkittyrose on TikTok, shared a short video to the platform on May 5, jokingly implying that the pair will be trimming their pets' nails themselves, one nail at a time. An overlaid text on the clip added more context: "Our vet quoted us $500 for a sedated nail trim…1 nail per nap it is," while the caption read: "My poor baby." Viewers on TikTok were able to see a man carefully trimming the dog's claw while they snoozed soundly beneath a blanket on the couch. Since it was posted, the 15-second clip has been viewed over 4.1 million times and has racked up more than 534,000 likes, with plenty of TikTok users chiming in with laughter, sympathy, and similar stories. "CVT [certified veterinary technician] here! If you can do this, DO IT! This is one of the best ways to reduce stress [and] anxiety for nail trims," one viewer said. "One toe at a time, don't force it, don't rush. "Over time you may be able to do more than one toe, before you know it you'll be trimming a whole paw! Definitely a treat after too, keep up the fantastic parenting guys." "$30 hanging harness from Amazon, trust," another added. "I have to feed my Rottweiler a baby carrot per nail so he's too busy snacking to get mad," a third viewer said. "Buy a second pair of clippers and you each do one so you can get two at a time," another added. "$500 is way too expensive, ask at another place," another said. The video's runaway popularity highlights a growing sentiment among American pet owners: veterinary care is becoming prohibitively expensive. The price of urban veterinarian services rose by 7.6 percent between 2023 and 2024, with states like Maine and Georgia seeing the sharpest increase in veterinary costs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Findings from Florida-based pet insurance company Spot Pet found that Maine saw a 21 percent rise in veterinary costs between 2023 and 2024, while Georgia followed closely with a 20 percent rise. Newsweek reached out to @lilkittyrose for more information via TikTok. A stock image of a pet owner trimming their dog's paws at home. A stock image of a pet owner trimming their dog's paws at home. Getty Images Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
