Profile: New Fillmore Newspaper

"Whether or not you’re high on Vertigo, or celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hitchcock masterpiece this fall, To Kill For qualifies as a must-see on or off the Fringe Festival circuit. Staged in the nave of Grace Cathedral and featuring some of the finest dramatic talent SF sports—smartly directed by Bay Area theater veteran Joy Carlin—Lucy Gray’s witty, thoughtful play contemplates 'Hitch' and (wife and writer) Alma Reville discussing and remaking Vertigo from aloft in a heavenly afterlife. To Kill For uses a simple, playful premise to not only resurrect the larger-than-life personalities of Hitch, Alma, Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, and others, but to excavate the still obscured history of a critical artistic partnership, with all its fraught personal and political implications. Hitchcock’s long relationship in life and film with Reville, his hidden insecurities and penchant for beautiful woman, his celebration and elevation by the critics-filmmakers of the French New Wave, are together a crucial backdrop here. But Gray, known primarily as a photographer, also incorporates a set of gorgeous collage-like images, inspired by the characters in the film and projected at the back of the stage, as a visual counterpoint to action which is itself half homage, half critical re-interpretation. It all serves in a lighthearted but cleverly astute way to unsettle and reconfigure the power, prestige, and talent amassed behind the deceptively solitary pose of the (male) auteur. And thus balance is restored, if not in this world then the next."
-- Robert Avila, San Francisco Bay Guardian (expanded)

"This fascinating take on Hitchcock-in-Limbo tells us things we never knew about the great director and the women behind his throne. Really witty and engaging, whether you know Vertigo or not. The fact that Lucy Gray's show sold out the 200-seat venue every night is a testament to audience interest in the great auteur (and his foibles.)"
-- Gary Carr, SF Fringe Festival Publicist

"I thought it was an entertaining and inventive look at the enigmatic filmmaker, the relationship between him and his wife, and the making of Vertigo."
-- Jean Schiffman, freelancer for Variety, S.F. Arts Monthly

"I found the play entertaining and fascinating in providing glimpses at the 'back story' of Hitchcock's life and work. One of those welcome experiences leaving the audience wanting to see and know more. Although I enjoyed the comedy, I was more interested in the history and drama of it."
-- Janos Gereben, writer for Examiner, EInsiders.com and SFCV.org