The Chalk Garden Reviews
LA Daily News- Somewhat Recommended
"...It's a shame Nehring and Ellen Geer capitulate to the direction and play too much for laughs. Nehring's Maitland should instead be finding his roots in a position that in some ways still belongs to the aged infirm butler (unseen) dominating the house from upstairs, and Geer brings out the quirkiness in her character rather than the deep feelings of bitterness and disappointment."
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...Brits don't get more delightfully eccentric than the residents of Mrs. St. Maugham's Sussex manor house in Enid Bagnold's 1955 charmer The Chalk Garden, the latest Theatricum Botanicum gem."
Hollywood Progressive- Highly Recommended
"...WGTB's thoroughly enjoyable, well-played production is good fun throughout, with underlying dramatic points about mother-daughter relations, the class structure, the prison and legal systems and more. Chalk it up to perfection. Set amidst the natural splendor of Topanga Canyon at an amphitheater adjacent to actual gardens, the aptly named Botanicum is an ideal place to stage The Chalk Garden. To paraphrase an illumined Candide in Voltaire's satire: "We must all cultivate our gardens.""
Showmag- Somewhat Recommended
"...The play itself is delightfully dotty. Matriarch Mrs. St. Maugham (Ellen Geer) sputters her way through life aided by Maitland (Michael Nehring), her faithful butler, and hindered by her precocious granddaughter, Laurel (Carmen Flood). After a series of disastrous interviews of prospective governesses, only the mysterious, snippy Mizz Madrigal (Melora Marshall) remains. Madrigal's past, finally revealed by the sonorous Judge (William Dennis Hunt), serves to heighten suspense as we await Laurel's impending reunion with her absentee mother (Willow Geer)."