God help Matilda. God help us all.<\/p>\n
Some of the questions raised by \u201cSisters\u201d certainly are germane to the moment: As AI gains in sophistication, will it be able to satisfy our complex emotional needs? As these digital entities grow in sophistication, will they start to make demands of their own? At one point in this 90-minute piece, digital Greta starts to complain that the grieving Natalie is ignoring her needs: \u201cMy dad died too,\u201d she whines.<\/p>\n
The story here is told with Matilda, played by Brenda Barrie, on stage throughout the show, and digital Greta performed as a Siri-like voiceover. This is a very difficult style to maintain for an entire show. (Barrie, one of the best Chicago actors of her generation, can\u2019t lock eyes with anyone.) And, to be frank, this production just doesn\u2019t achieve the necessary conversational reality.<\/p>\n
I feel like the big mistake here was to treat Greta, spoken by Chloe Johnston, as if she were a chilly narrator in a soundproof recording studio replete with a lot of voiceover tropes. It feels like you are watching one highly sophisticated theatrical actress and another voicing an over-articulated audiobook, which is fine for a podcast or whatever but not so much for a piece of live theater.<\/p>\n
I certainly get why Johnston and Thebus have Greta speaking with obsequious condescension \u2014 that is, after all, one of the main points of the play. But the style here prevents any kind of emotional engagement between these two beings, if that is the word, even through Barrie, who invariably brings a rich emotional life to her work, brilliantly evokes a child and then a woman at different stages of her life. Frankly, I\u2019d rather have just heard from Matilda talking about Greta\u2019s impact than hearing this disembodied voice giving us the creeps for 90 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you miss your mother, Matilda?\u201d Greta asks her 6-year-old quarry. \u201cThe more we talk, the more I\u2019ll learn.\u201d Shudder.<\/p>\n
In all fairness, I had the sense that some others in the audience had somewhat of a different experience from me and found this relationship and thus this show moving.\u00a0 I simply did not, mostly because I don\u2019t think the play works.<\/p>\n
For one thing, the plot depends on the idea that Greta \u201cbelongs\u201d to a particular computer; already, our AI assistants flit all over the cloud, so that feels outdated, given that we soon will be able to attach them to our bodies.<\/p>\n
![\"Brenda](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-ENT-SISTERS-01.jpg\")
Brenda Barrie (Matilda) and Chloe Johnston (Greta) in “Sisters” at Writers Theatre in Glencoe. (Hugo Hentoff)<\/p>\n
But my biggest issue with this early entry into the 2026-27 season (which does have a sophisticated set from A. Inn Doo) is the matter of what an audience is really supposed to take from such a dystopian experience, beyond re-committing to keeping artificial intelligence at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n
A more human Greta (maybe even a visible one) would certainly have been more interesting theatrically, but I\u2019m still not convinced I\u2019d not have been anything but relieved when this show was over.<\/p>\n
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic<\/p>\n
cjones5@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n
Review: \u201cSisters\u201d (2 stars)<\/p>\n
When: Through Nov. 8<\/p>\n
Where: Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe<\/p>\n
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes<\/p>\n