Chicago Tribune: 'War With the Newts' by Next Theatre: Sick of greasy humans, the newts take over the world ***1/2
“War With the Newts” is a fascinating, gutsy and intensely creative show that precisely evokes the era and style of Kapek’s creation.... The precision of the visuals — many of the intentionally sparse and atmospheric scenes are staged like moving sculptures — collides against the sudden intensity of the acting.

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"War With the Newts," which you must see, is an exquisitely detailed show and it is clearly dedicated to revealing that Capek (who wrote science fiction before anyone really saw the genre as a separate entity) was one prescient dude.

Chicago Sun-Times: Goodbye, cruel world! 'Newts' on the loose
THEATER REVIEW | 'Dystopian satire' appears crystal-ball clear after 74 years

BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic/hweiss@suntimes.com

Karel Capek, the Czech writer who, along with Franz Kafka, may have been one of the most prescient artists of the early 20th century (he also is credited with inventing the term "robot"), died of natural causes in 1938 at age 48. Had he lived even a few years longer, he would have been swallowed up in a Nazi concentration camp. Unquestionably he saw the catastrophe looming over Europe.

In "War With the Newts" (subtitled "Mr. Povendra's Dream"), the world premiere stage adaptation by Jason Loewith and Justin D.M. Palmer of the writer's 1936 "dystopian satire" --which is receiving its world premiere in a Next Theatre production staged at Loyola University's Mullady Theatre -- Capek's sense of prescience extends beyond his own era and convincingly into our own.

'WAR WITH THE NEWTS'
RECOMMENDED

-- Through June 20

-- Next Theatre at the Mullady Theatre, 1125 W. Loyola

With its talk of ecological disaster, financial meltdown, colonialism, religious fanaticism, social unrest, military buildups and an overall sense of global upheaval, it could have been penned this week. Yet the story, which begins in 1934, is connected to the rise of Hitler and fascism in Europe as it follows the strange, terrifying ascent of an oppressed race of Pacific-bred sea dwellers as they evolve into a formidable force bent on global supremacy.

It all begins with Frantisek Povondra (Joseph Wycoff, who subtly captures the nature of a servile man who spirals out of control). Povondra is the doorman for wealthy Czech-Jewish entrepreneur G. H. Bondy (Will Zahrn, who plays a long-winded academic who blathers on about history throughout the intermission), and it is he who opens the door of his employer's home to the ominous Capt. Van Toch (an ideally tyrannical Steve Pickering).

The sea captain makes a deal with Bondy that involves the newts and their skill for retrieving precious pearls. This is the beginning of the end for all involved, particularly Povondra, who grows obsessed with chronicling the rise of the newts, despite the desperate pleas of his wife (Jennifer Avery, most winning as an Everywoman with more quotidian concerns). But the whole world is at risk.

Although the storytelling grows long-winded, Loewith's direction of this multifaceted production is compelling, with designer Collette Pollard creating yet another dynamic set in the wake of her triumphant one for Writers' Theatre's "A Streetcar Named Desire." The rest of the team, including Michael Montenegro (puppets), Misha Fiksel (music and sound), Keith Parham (lighting), Kristine Engle (costumes) and MikeTutaj (projections), add even more texture to Capek's eerie tale.

WBEZ Chiago Public Radio: Dueling Critics: Battle With The Newts
unbelievably contemporary . . .underneath the fansiful story is more about basic truths with of our relationship with the environment . . . just like oil beneath the seas this is about the exploitation by humanity of an underwater resource . . . its also about the Walstreet meltdown . . . it remains completely contemporary and urgent, its very intellectually exciting show.

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Chicago Stage Review: Review ***
Next Theatre’s World Premiere of "War with the Newts" is a wildly ambitious, extremely fascinating and ultimately entertaining theatrical adaptation.

"War With the Newts" is a fascinating, gutsy and intensely creative show that precisely evokes the era and style of Kapek’s creation.

- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune