written by Steve Moulds
directed by Brian Balcom
August 7 – 14, 2010
Minnesota Fringe Festival
at Mixed Blood Theatre
He thinks he’s an enlightened guy, but she’s a radical in the making. He’s in way over his head, yet there’s something about her. In a romance destined to fail spectacularly, language can be a bitch.
Cast
Production Team
| stuart | Sid Solomon | director | Brian Balcom |
| casey | Christine Weber* | costumes | Andrea Gross |
| collins | Shad Cooper | technical director | David Pisa |
| sarah | Leigha Horton | assistant director | Andrea San Miguel |
| photography | Dan Norman | ||
| * appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association | |||
Reviews
Walking Shadow Theatre Company’s Fringe show, See You Next Tuesday, is a sleek machine with a heart of battery acid. Steve Moulds’s new play packs an entire yearlong relationship efficiently into its short Fringe spot, padding it with lots of big laughs. The problem is that the relationship happens to be between two of the most off-putting characters you’re likely to encounter in this year’s Fringe Festival…
The perfectly-cast quartet have crackerjack comic timing, and they romp through the play’s lighter scenes like bears jumping in puddles of honey. Moulds has an acute sense for the little burrs that get in people’s saddles, including the one that inspired the play’s title (see note below), and Balcom keeps the show light on its feet—the punch lines are all the funnier because they’re delivered as lines, not punches.”
– Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet
…while See You Next Tuesday delights in dysfunctional love, nothing about this romance is lazily drawn. Relationships here are as complex and confusing as real life, starting with the abrasive break-up that opens the storyline and gives way to bittersweet recollections of a couple’s time together. The script by Steve Moulds wastes no time in establishing a balance between quirky one-liners and heartfelt sentiment while the gifted young cast of Sid Solomon, Christine Weber, Shad Cooper, and Leigha Horton each realize the full potential of their roles. Weber in particular must be applauded for lending a touch of vulnerability to a role that, in less capable hands, could have flattened into the overly familiar form of an intellectually combative and casually condescending girlfriend. Instead Weber subtly suggests a deeper insecurity that lends credence towards the eventual breakup. In this context, See You Next Tuesday’s only significant shortcoming – abridging the relationship’s arc to fit a one-hour runtime – is especially pronounced. What we do see of the relationship is telling; their chance first encounter, the nervous exchange of gifts, and a hilariously uncomfortable dinner with in-laws, but these scenes fall short of expressing their emotional bond – making it harder to appreciate the devastation when that bond is broken. That slight criticism aside, See You Next Tuesday breaks the mold for romantic comedies, establishing a work of singular invention and cracking jokes all the while.
– Brad Richason, Examiner
