The Good Thief

By Connor McPheason

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...Thornton, a founder and artistic director of the company, is making a return to the stage after a pair of spinal strokes in 2003 left him paralyzed. He uses a walker to get around, and his left hand remains crimped. But his voice and his acting instincts have roared back to life, and in John Gawlik's precise direction, this performance is one of the more riveting hours on a local stage this season."
 

Kerry Reid

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...In Irish playwright Conor McPherson's gorgeously imagined one-man play "The Good Thief," actor Michael Patrick Thornton plays a Dublin thug who, about a decade after the fact, is recalling "the incident" that landed him in his current condition. But in the terrific production now at the Gift Theatre, there is a parallel if rather different story concerning the actor himself, and it is well worth telling in its own right."

Hedy Weiss
 

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Michael Patrick Thornton, making a comeback after life-threatening multiple strokes and years of physical therapy, plays McPherson's unnamed storyteller with remarkable subtlety, never overemphasizing the violence, never punching the many comic lines. Thornton still needs a walker to move about the stage and seems to have only partial use of his hands, but that only makes his stage work all the more remarkable--and moving."

Jack Helbig
 

NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Gift Theatre founder Michael Patrick Thornton is subtle and commanding as the thief. Seated throughout as he swings from his liquor bottle or caresses his walker like his best girl, Thornton seduces us into caring about his self-aware, mordantly funny thug."

John Beer
 

Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...It’s not too often that you can get such a heartfelt combination of compassionate caring and frightening chills in one tiny package like The Good Thief. It’s also the perfect comeback vehicle for Thornton, who triumphs in all aspects of the role. Thornton and everyone involved in this amazing Gift Theatre production deserves respect and admiration for The Good Thief."
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Scott C. Morgan
 

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...As an Irish thug recounting the day his life went to hell, Michael Patrick Thornton delivers what may well be the most interesting performance currently on a Chicago stage."

Novid Parsi
 

ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended

"...Thornton smoothly, with a tilt of the head or a slight change of tone, moves from irony to remorse to rationalization as he totally thrills us with the thug’s story. Only an actor with the craftsmanship and skill Thornton possesses could deliver as powerfully nuanced a performance as he does with the complex text McPherson penned."
 

Tom Williams