“Waiting” asks much and answers little — a fitting mix

How to describe Waiting, new theater group Fools for Tragedy’s answer to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot?

Using words like “answer” is probably a poor place to start. Like its namesake, Waiting asks much and answers little. And like its namesake, it is a fascinating — albeit frustrating — piece of theater.

Structurally, artistic director Jordan Gwiazdowski’s play follows the same pattern as Godot. Two men, Vladmir and Estragon, sit, waiting, for something that never comes. While they wait, they talk. While they talk, they meet a pair of strangers, Pozzo and Lucky. Shortly after, the act ends and it all starts over again after the intermission.

What’s different is setting and circumstance, the two fundamentals that frame the play’s ambiguous dialogue. In a brilliant move, the play takes place out in the house, where the audience normally sits. The audience is on the stage. It’s Paris, time indeterminate. Two actors, Di Di and Go Go, have found their fates tied together again for what is only the latest in a long string of partnerships.

No actors attached their names to those roles because — and this is both a clever conceit and an implicit plot point — Waiting’s actors aren’t tied to their roles. Every night features a different combination of performers and personae, and different dynamics.

Friday night, Di Di and Go Go were Jacob Anderson and Michael Traynor. Gwen Zupan played “NotPozzo” while Allie Beckmann played “UnLucky.” When you see it, it’ll be entirely mixed up, possibly with Kelly Doherty or Gwiazdowski taking a part instead. The only constant is Peter Smith, who plays a silent enigma seated in the back row throughout.

The play’s characters are but thinly sketched in the script, so the nature of the characters says more about the vision of the actor than the vision of the playwright. Anderson plays Di Di as a depressed actor unwilling to admit how much he’s missed Go Go, and Traynor’s Go Go is more than a little batty-yet-lovable. But how Beckmann would play the role? Or Gwiazdowski? Does that matter?

Such open-ended questions abound in Waiting, which takes its speech patterns straight from Beckett. The difference is that Beckett’s characters don’t seem to have a purpose at all, whereas Gwiazdowski’s do: To figure out Godot. It’s the million-dollar question: “Why do we need to know why they are waiting for Godot?”

And it’s a good question, the next one after “Why are they waiting for Godot?” Because nothing about Waiting, or Waiting for Godot really ought to keep us watching. It’s just two men—or possibly women—sitting, talking, thinking, theorizing.

Yet we keep watching, riveted. There’s a point in the show where you realize there won’t be any resolution. You dismiss that issue and get back to enjoying the show. To waiting.

And then it’s over.

Fools for Tragedy’s production of Waiting runs through Feb. 18 at the Alchemist Theater, and then moves to Villa Terrace for a three-night engagement Feb. 24-26. Tickets are $12; Alchemist shows start at 8 p.m., Villa Terrace shows at 7:30 p.m. Visit the Alchemist’s online box office or call Villa Terrace at (414) 278-8295 to order tickets.

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