The Waiting Game
About the show
"An unsettling glimpse into the dynamics of a destructive love triangle and its aftereffects...The play does a wonderful job exploring power dynamics and the longing for commitment...Behind the stage, where Sam lingers in his purgatory, words pulled from the dialogue appear on a backdrop and begin to scramble, a literal view of how communication becomes skewed and fragmented...An unusual way to dramatize souls in limbo." Full Review
“When given its due, ‘The Waiting Game’ is a rewarding and excellent piece of theater...Gershman has crafted a unique vision at the crossroads of drug use, sex, marriage and HIV status. Wright has staged it interestingly and pulled out wonderful performances from the actors. It could have used a bit more dialog and a little less distracting stage business...But those are minor nits which are lost in the unique voice ‘The Waiting Game’ brings.” Full Review
“As directed with a crafty focused style of tight movement and dynamic interplay by Nathan Wright, the slow hypnotic dive into the abyss of grief and loss takes its time assembling the pieces and the game board of life and death...'The Waiting Game' works as a study, but the conclusions aren’t exactly clear. Which I guess is what life, love, loss, and release is, in a nutshell." Full Review
"It’s only mid-February, but I have already suffered through what I expect will be a strong contender for the worst play I see this year...This situation may sound promising, but the action is as comatose as Sam...After 65 long, long minutes, the play grinds to a halt...The actors are convincing in their roles. For some reason they perform barefoot...Unless seeing four hunky men is enough to make your evening, you can skip this one." Full Review
“Gershman takes a more daring tack in his new play ‘The Waiting Game’ his ‘hero’, Paolo, is a meth-smoking lodestar of promiscuity...Gershman deserves credit for taking a darker approach, but the result is puzzling and unsatisfying...The melodrama is thick, downbeat and contrived...There’s little the actors can do to salvage this goulash...The gay milieu doesn’t enliven the action much.” Full Review
“The play is about the mechanisms that people use to cope with loss...The problem is that we never discover how those people feel...The characters seem very two-dimensional lacking emotional depth and not fully developed. The actors do their job but there is not enough to grab onto in order to transcend the material. The characters...are not at all likable, therefore it is difficult for the audience feel much empathy." Full Review
“There's plenty of waiting around but not much payoff in Gershman's new drama...The play exists in a cloud of anomie...Giving a banal situation a same-sex twist doesn't add anything of interest...If Wright's direction feels stilted and the performances wooden, you can blame the script...’The Waiting Game’ could easily apply to the audience, who spend seventy minutes waiting for something like drama to show up; like the characters onstage, they are likely to be disappointed.” Full Review
"Welcome to 'The Waiting Game,' a play by Charles Gershman, which has the makings for a meaningful drama, but never really amounts to much. A large part of the problem is the nondescript and dull staging, as directed by Nathan Wright, which doesn't really bring any of the characters alive. And then there's the writing, also nondescript and dull, does nothing to make the characters real--nor does it contain anything resembling exposition." Full Review
for a previous production "A challenging and unexpected delight...A very intimate performance by four talented actors...skillfully drawing the audience into the personal world of the main protagonists...This play expertly delves into the complexities of human relationships...The acting is superb, honest, raw and emotional...A brilliant example of theatre that demonstrates love and passion in equal measure...Amazing stuff!" Full Review
for a previous production "'The Waiting Game' is a game changer...It’s amazing how agile these four actors are in a limited space, and they pack enough drama into 60 minutes as if performing in a full-on Hollywood feature...Joshua Bouchard as Geoff I believe is the moral centre of the story, and boy can he act. In fact they are all immensely impressive...The last scene is somewhat of a puzzle, an enigma which keeps one thinking, which I like...A stunning piece of art." Full Review
for a previous production "The time period of the play is a bit confusing in a bad way, but its staging is a bit confusing in a great way...Perfect marriage of content and space...The dialogue is sharp to the point of being painful...Superb acting all around...Sinoway never loses his mysterious magnetism, which is perfectly suited to the anti-hero Paolo. The emotion he eventually has to unload on the audience is devastating." Full Review
for a previous production "'The Waiting Game' benefits from excellent performances and well-drawn characters. The four central figures are believable as people, something that is crucial in a story with numerous emotional twists and turns...If there’s one criticism to be made it’s that the ending felt rather odd. It didn’t entirely work for me, although others may feel differently. Still, everything leading up to it was compelling and emotive drama, making it a show that I can definitely recommend." Full Review
See it if the most important thing for you in a drama with all gay characters is that at least two attractive actors take their shirts off then kiss.
Don't see it if you're triggered by simulated meth-smoking; you expect "Twilight Zone" plot twists to lead to mind-blowing endings; G-chat scares you.
Also Memorable Line: "Finish this sentence."
See it if the sight of four hunky males is enough to make your evening.
Don't see it if you don't like plays showing drug use or if you expect a coherent plot with characters you care about.
Also The most shocking thing to me is that this play won the Best Overseas ... Read more Read less
See it if You like a show about things that possible happen in today’s gay culture!
Don't see it if Don’t like homosexuality
See it if You like very contemporary queer stories, darker material, and elements of mystery. This is a really strong, contemporary, raw, queer play.
Don't see it if You're looking for a story that wraps up neatly, something that's upbeat, something that offends conservative sensibilities. Drugs, sex, etc
See it if You want a slightly intense mind bender.
Don't see it if You don't want a slightly intense evening of theatre. Or if you are not wanting to come away having to sort things out.
Also I saw what they going for. It just needed to be, in my opinion, full-f... Read more Read less
See it if You like challenging theater that deals with complex, contemporary issues. This show will leave you with lots to think about.
Don't see it if You like your questions answered or you like to laugh. This show doesn't let up and with few moments of levity some might be turned off.
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