Gary Has a Date

Grumble Productions—MTYP Mainstage

Emily Windler of Portland, Oregon, is in this one-woman show in which she portrays a man. As opposed to WONDERHEADS productions, in which she is also involved (including The Middle of Everywhere at this Fringe), here she does not wear a mask and is not silent. Her character Gary is an awkward, bumbling snail expert who wears a too-large jacket, has disheveled hair, and fumbles about in his place while preparing for a date.

The main focus of this show is the physical comedy related to Gary making a mess of things. He gets tangled up in his phone cord, knocks over his table and chairs, accidentally steps on an unseen cat behind a counter, spills wine on a table cloth, fights with scotch tape, bangs against a radio and sends its antenna flying, keeps clapping a lamp off and on, among other such similar actions. This all happens while he re-reads sections from Dating for Dummies, rehearses lines to say to his date, sets his table, and answers phone calls.

In some ways, the performance is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin or Mr. Bean. Unfortunately, some of the gags are repeated too often and with little development, and this show becomes less about dating anxiety than about pure fumbling about. We never see his date Norma appear, although we hear her knocking at the door.

Also, this show ran for only 40 minutes, not the advertised 60 minutes.

Konrad Antony