PicksInSix Review: The Attic - Goodman Theatre
Goodman’s “Attic” Is A Flipping Dazzler!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Catey Sullivan
I’ve seen hundreds of circus acts over the past 30ish years; everything from massive Las Vegas spectaculars to three-ring arena extravaganzas to acrobats flinging themselves across Daley Plaza at midnight to dinner-and-circus shows in boutique hotels.
Les 7 Doigts de la Main’s (The 7 Fingers) “The Attic: Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back,” has something I’ve yet to encounter at any previous circus-centered production. It provides all the thrills and jaw-dropping feats of derring-do one expects from the intensely physical art form. But “The Attic” is more than thrilling. It is also deeply moving, unsettling and profound. In about 100 minutes and 28 scenes, it tells a story that is at once heart-wrenching and exquisitely beautiful with an emotional arc that covers the journey of a lifetime.
Written, directed and choreographed by former Cirque du Soleil soloist Shana Carroll, “The Attic” asks the audience to confront mortality while immersed in a glorious, gravity-defying celebration of life. Carroll’s autobiographical story moves from infancy through adolescence, to career and childbirth and ultimately to a medical diagnosis of staggering implications. The narrative is as breathtaking as the extraordinary aerialists, hoop divers, acrobats, jugglers and contortionists telling it.
The opening reveal is gasp-inducing: A lone actor slips into a patient gown as a diaphanous, ghostly hospital room materializes on stage in a dreamscape of pale luminosity. (Lighting designer Alexander Nichols paints the stage like Caravaggio throughout.) This is the jumping off point for the cast of ten. Backed by Colin Gagne’s haunting, percussive score, “The Attic” flies through pivotal moments in Carroll’s life: her fascination as a toddler with motes dancing in sunbeams; her adolescent surrender to epic yearning, hormones and newly discovered sexuality; her adult years as a globe-trotting Cirque star, a nomad whose only true home is in the air. Gleaming hoops morph into CT scanners, an anaesthesiologist’s countdown becomes a portal to a world of seemingly weightless wonder, as grasping hands reach from inside a hospital bed, pushing and pulling its occupant into dire exhaustion.
The circus acts are astonishing, especially when the entire cast is in motion, swinging the body electric. At times, it’s difficult to know where to look. High above the stage, trapeze artists soar and silk spinners weave a mesmerizing web with their bodies. Below, tumblers and gymnasts create pas de deux that combine elite athleticism with ballet, contortionism and shows of boggling strength. Carroll’s choreo is a distinct blend of balletic grace and softness, and harsh, jutting angles—all in the service of evocative storytelling.
“The Attic” flies by, literally and figuratively. Some of the non-circus pacing needs tightening. The vocals and the snatches of dialogue aren’t quite seamlessly woven into the story. The latter is almost unnecessary—the movement on stage makes every development crystalline clear. Still, the metaphors that run like a river throughout are beautifully specific and universal, especially with the story explores the art and inevitably of falling. This show is a flipping dazzler!
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | CATEY SULLIVAN has been covering Chicago theater for more than 30 years. Her work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, Playbill, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Tribune and New City, among others. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Illinois.
PHOTO|Todd Rosenberg
Goodman Theatre
presents
The 7 Fingers’
The Attic: Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back
170 N Dearborn Street
through October 4, 2026
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