Waiting for André
Hard Times
Writer/Creator: John Arthur Sweet
Fresh from the Prague Fringe comes this moving, comic, occasionally poetic meditation on meaning and meaninglessness—-and the relevance of theatre. And, above all, Love.
A man is haunted by the memory of a schoolmate, a mysterious artist named André, who wasn’t exactly a friend and yet made an indelible impression in the course of three fleeting encounters.
FYI, here’s a review the show received last month at the Prague Fringe:
There is much that John Arthur Sweet’s Waiting for André shares in common with Kurt Hartwig’s very fine Decaffeinated Tragedy. They are both stories of young men whose lives are irrevocably changed by encountering a slightly older friend, one who brings the gift of love into the relationship. There are other kindred threads connecting the two, and, structurally, both pieces are nonlinear, moving back and forth between time past and time present. Sweet’s story is less tragic, a beautifully crafted coming of age piece where a young actor, Chris, is reawakened to life in a chance encounter with his beloved André. That this epiphanic moment occurs as Chris is marooned on a small platform stage, where he has been sentenced to wait by a local theater group, as part of an advertising campaign for its production of Waiting for Godot, is a rich image. If Hartwig’s friend, the tragic artist Jennifer, is never fully realized in our minds, through the performer’s reticence, Sweet’s André is a vivid presence: an ethereal boy, whose life is lead, wholly and organically, as an outsider - one clothed in the rumors and fantasies of others. André is one of the earth’s natural catalysts, a young man who cannot help but turn a common day into something singular, something that Chris discovers on three important occasions. Sweet is a wonderful storyteller, sharing alike Hartwig’s personableness. They obviously make fine company for people outside the confines of the theater. If there’s a criticism, it’s that Sweet now and again gets lost in the siren song of his own voice, meaning that the odd line or word, here and there, is more clever than felt. That aside, one needn’t wait for André with Sweet in town.
It’s me (the writer/performer) again! I just realized that people might want to know where the review I posted came from. After all, I might have written it myself! Here’s the link:
http://www.praguepost.com/night-and-day/stage/1414-the-prague-fringe-festival-day-7-may-28.html