The Waiting Game NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Sam’s in a coma. Paolo’s doing his best. When Geoff reveals a secret, reality and fantasy blur. This NYC premiere from Snowy Owl explores relationships in the digital age.
Show-Score Member Reviews (9)
See it if You want to see some interesting ideas and committed acting.
Don't see it if You're looking for a cohesive show that can be followed. It feels slow even at its very short runtime.
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. Read more
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. Read more
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 like contemporary queer stories. You don't mind dark, heavy material.
Don't see it if You want something uplifting. You want to watch women onstage.
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. Read more
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.
Critic Reviews (12)
“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.”
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"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."
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“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."
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“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."
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"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."
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“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.”
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“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.”
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"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."
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