Boldly Going Nowhere

Friday, August 06, 2004
4:00 p.m. Time Slot
Die Roll: 3
Show result: Boldly Going Nowhere, Illusion Theatre


The anticipation has pretty much worn off. Talk about an anti-climactic experience. I've now rolled the dice for the first time in the 2004 Fringe Festival. I am now sitting here in the lobby of the Illusion theatre, awaiting the start of Boldly Going Nowhere. I am suddenly struck by the fact that I do not need to put any effort into selecting shows at this point. There is no stress on me at all now that the festival is beginning. The thing that brings that home most completely is that there are 3 people sitting at the table ahead of me (see picture). They are wonderful people who told me that they're on their 9th or 10th Fringe. They are entirely charged up by the whole experience, but they are also stressing out and arguing over the plays that they are going to or not going to. Now, I know that the whole thing is part of the standard Fringe experience, but I'm suddenly quite thankful that I got all my stress out of my system the other night when I put my charts together.

So... What do I know about Boldly Going Nowhere? Not much yet. It is one of the shows that is at the Illusion and part of their "Fresh Ink" series. Apparently it is starring Tod Peterson. That's as far as I go down the knowledge path. More on it all after the obnoxious arrow things:

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So... My thoughts:

Five brief monologues, four characters, and one of them kept saying, "Didn't you fuck me in the butt?"

As a general rule I do not like one man shows. And you know, with my eyes open, I did not like this one either. I closed my eyes part way through and it got infinitely better. What I'm saying here is that Tod Peterson wrote a good play here. And if it were performed on the radio it would be great. In fact, the monologues in this show are made for radio. They are beautiful and funny and do not need any physical actions to add to them. In fact, with my eyes open, the "characterizations" that Mr. Peterson was doing detracted immensely from the natural comedy of the words.

Now, I'll give him the fact that he read most of the show, so his actions may have been limited for that reason, but even if he'd had the script in his head rather than on a music stand, the play would've been better as an exclusively auditory experience.

This was a play that was marked by often repeated lines that expressed the obsessions of each of the characters. A clubbing boy how gets kidnapped, and deserted on an island in the middle of a lake is consumed with the phrase "Didn't you fuck me in the butt?" Another is obsessed with watching sitcoms, especially those starring Mary Tyler Moore, at the same time being completely disturbed by an incident that happened years ago in a high school locker room. A beauty pageant contestant is constantly thinking about whether or not something is cute, and rebelling against her mother. The last is consumed by wondering why his brother would've given up smoking pot.

Odd and quirky, and fun ... to listen to.