This page contains articles and reviews that have been written about Babes With Blades.

Articles

Click on the small picture or the article title to go to a larger version of the picture and a transcription of the text.

Reviews

American Theatre Magazine

"It awakens the innate badass in every woman."

Chicago Reader "Critic's Choice"

"Move over, Braveheart! These Chicago Babes kick ass!"

Chicago Tribune

"In their self-titled variety show last year of duels, scraps, scuffles and all-out hair-pulling, punch throwing, catfighting melees, the Babes demonstrate that there is nothing like a dame armed with nunchucks, daggers, or other instruments of destruction."

Daily Herald

"...one of the most raucous, exciting, relentlessly entertaining shows currently running in Chicago."

"...the punches and head-slams and kicks are so real they put both the WWF and Xena to shame."

Chicago Reader

"These original scenarios, incorporating clearly defined characters, sharply timed dialogue, and a number of unexpected plot twists, facilitate our enjoyment of a virtuoso spectacle unfolding only an arm's length away."

Gay Chicago Magazine

"an irresistibly infectious aura of joy, liberation and down-and-dirty physical fun surrounding the production."

"... provides a giddy mental and spiritual release..."

"Those who ... have a pulse exit this production with a defiant joie de vivre."

"... we get a terrific assortment of hussies, whores, riot grrrls and rebels, all of them scrapping up a storm."

"...makes for a bloody good night at the fights."

This Month on Stage

"...an evening showcasing the martial art of these ladies who lunge was long overdue."

"It's all good, clean, sweaty fun, and anyway, why should the Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris-wannabes get all the glory?"

The Suburban LIFE

"There is something immensely cathartic about a good, old fashioned brawl."

"Had an oppressive day? Go check out the Babes."

Pioneer Press

"Contrary to popular belief, women have been slinging steel (and perhaps a few clubs and T.Rex jawbones) for centuries."

"Take that, Quentin Tarantino."

Rev

"...find out what fun pain and the threat of it can be."

Great Lakes Stage

"Babes With Blades invites women onto the home turf again..."

"Creativity has been wedded to discipline in [the concept for] this show as participants [not only] perform a complex and demanding regimen of fight technique..."

F News Magazine

"... these women redefine grrrl power.

The Guardian

"Babes With Blades destroys the invisibility of the female perspective in history by finding female voices willing to shout."

"It's jarring, it's unexpected, it's totally exhilarating."

"The show battles the traditional roles that have been socially prescribed to women, attempting to alter the individual female's perception of herself by highlighting precisely those roles that have formally seemed forbidden."

"the 12 actresses in Babes With Blades do not cheer - they lead."