What I liked
What elevates this piece beyond a goofy metatheatrical satire is the underlying meditation on feelings of worthlessness and insignificance. It can take so much out of you just to live in this city, let alone trying to make art in it, let alone in such a competitive marketplace. He wields these feelings from behind the mask, letting it tilt only now and again before dealing with it in no uncertain terms. I think we can all see ourselves in that archetype.
What I didn't like
This piece is every bit a site-specific piece. From the moment you get your program and wonder whether or not you’ve arrived at the right thing, to the moment you realize the conceit, you will experience many of the things that someone taking a chance on a random show will. Unfortunately, to fully appreciate this, you would have had to see this before it was resoundingly recognized as one of the best works in this festival. So, the best way to have seen this piece was not to have known anything about what you were going to see, something which I have absolutely spoiled for you by writing this review HA HA JOKE’S ON YOU MATT, I CAN BE METATHEATRICAL TOO, LOOK I’M DOING A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ART AND AUDIENCE AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME NOT EVEN WITH SOME KIND OF LIMIT OF CHARACTERS IN A REVIEW ON THE FRINGE WEBSI
My overall impression
This is as much a sly how-to guide as a how-not-to comedy roller coaster. Matt wields a library of tropes and cringeworthy personality hemorrhages to castigate those of us who, well, showed up late and didn’t finish the rewrites.
