"Chaotic yet profound...Aside from the beauty of the signing actors’ delivery, they provide, even for a hearing audience, a channel of information that sometimes feels deeper and more direct than the spoken one. Supertitles provide yet another. But it’s a lot of information to process, and the play’s fracturing of time does not make it any easier...It has always been Mr. Lucas’s gift to reveal the awfulness behind things that look charming and to make that awfulness compelling."
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"It should be no snub to say that 'I Was Most Alive With You' does indeed juggle many ideas and aspirations, and that as with many an expansive project, some moments shine while others are less finely polished...Harvard anchors the production, giving its big ideas, which can at times feel rhetorical...a compelling human center...Ultimately, 'I Was Most Alive With You' feels like half head and half heart...the elements themselves are less alchemically merged than laid out side by side."
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"The playwright deluges the audience with so much relentless misery that we come to feel as victimized as old Job. Although the drama has admirable qualities, 'I Was Most Alive With You' is a trial to endure...It's an awful lot to pile into a single evening, and the playwright doesn't manage to finesse it into palatable form...It's a shame, because the production is elegantly staged...and superbly acted by an ensemble of hearing and deaf actors."
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"A sensitive synthesis of ancient wisdom and modern sensibilities...The result is a drama that is about as messy as real life, but infinitely more interesting to watch. Director Tyne Rafaeli's sleekly staged production reels us in and keeps us hooked...A shadow cast of actors signs the script from a mezzanine...Dennison has choreographed this interplay with impressive synchronization...The beating heart is Harvard, who gives one of the most electric performances of the year."
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"Somber and overstuffed drama...This reviewer and his ASL fluent guest (who was focused more heavily on the signing) was unable to see the principal cast and the shadow cast simultaneously, thus shining far greater attention on the company performing with a full set and denying those relying on the shadow company the experience of seeing the full staging...While there is fine acting throughout, the play appears overwritten and purposeless."
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“Lucas’s exhilarating and risk-taking new drama, an iconoclastic and thoroughly original probing of the meaning of tragedy in contemporary life...The rock upon which Rafaeli's production is built is Harvard as Knox..He makes scene after scene crackle...Signing is part of the play's central coup de theatre; each member of the cast is shadowed by another actor...It is a gracious gesture typical of a play that embraces the audience while forcing it to consider scalding truths.”
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"Inclusion! Here's to it. Only that doesn't quite happen...If you're hearing-impaired and following the American Sign Language upstairs, you won't see any of the action below. If your eyes wander below to follow the action, you'll miss the signed dialog. Which, given some of the dialog, may not be a bad thing...Lucas's program notes suggest that he feels deeply about this play; it's a shame that he's so unable to convey a clear message."
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"The playwright’s point for unleashing such a tsunami of misery upon the characters—as well as over the audience—is not tangible...The play/production’s experiment with the shadow performers lends gravity to this event. Director Tyne Rafaeli’s actors help to moor the drifting themes with generally solid performances. These positive components at least manage to rescue this unfocused and terribly lugubrious drama from turning laughable."
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