Wednesday 7 July 2010

Fringe Review: "Waiting for Andre", A Hidden Gem

WAITING FOR ANDRÉ
by John Arthur Sweet
presented by Hard Times from Montréal, QC
Genre: Storytelling
Audience: Mature Audience
Warning: Language

DESCRIPTION: A seriocomic meditation on love, art, and theatre, this is the story of Chris, an idealistic young actor who is hired for a bizarre publicity stunt promoting a production of WAITING FOR GODOT. Last performed in the Czech Republic, the Prague Post called WAITING FOR ANDRÉ “a beautifully crafted coming of age piece” and said “Sweet is a wonderful
storyteller.”

MY REVIEW: A "seriocomic meditation"? How about "a smart, frickin', hilarious performance about an actor being hired to wait"? Because that's how I saw and the handful of people that were in the theatre would agree with me. We were cackling up a storm! You would think there were more of us in the room, but no, it was just us five giving free reign to laughter at the various situations described by Sweet in this one-man performance. Going back and forth in his reflections about his geeky days in an unnamed, pragmatic small town (the Municipal park is called "Municipal Park") to his present gig in the big city as a would-be actor (he's only had one other acting job) being paid to wait in a train station, Sweet's humour is ironic, self-deprecating, and FUNNY! How can it not be? His character, Chris, is sitting in a train station on a platform, with a tree and a sign promoting the theatre that's show Waiting for Godot. If you know the play, you get what he's doing, but if you don't he presents a very strange picture! As for the mysterious Andre, you'll have to go see the play to find out. Rating: ***** 5/5 Stars.

Venue 6 The Solo Room
60 min.
Wed, July 7 4:45 PM
Thu, July 8 6:15 PM
Sun, July 11 2:15 PM

TICKETS
$10 at the door. Cash Only.
• Online $11 at http://www.fringetoronto.com/
• By Phone at 416-966-1062 or 1-866-515-7799
• In person (June 30 – July 11 only) at The Randolph Centre for the Arts, 736 Bathurst Street
NO LATECOMERS WILL BE ADMITTED.

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