Waiting For Gaddot

Richard Gadd
Soho Theatre, London
October 27th – November 7th, 2015
9:30pm

by John Domingues

The premise for the show is what you would expect from the title. Richard Gadd is stranded on his way to his own show and his hapless stage manager (played brilliantly by a nervous, sweating, but endearing Ben Target) is forced to fill in for him between video clips, phone calls and other guest appearances.

Ben Target’s attempts at ‘audience banter’ picked up the tempo and brought the slightly confused audience on side. Then there are a string of videos showing why Richard Gadd is late. If he ever wanted to have a sitcom, this is proof that he could produce something slick, entertaining and the makings of a cult hit.

Ian Smith made an appearance as an angry heckler and his anger felt too real and in some ways alienated the audience. Then an actual drunk heckler (at least I think that’s the case, but in a show like this, who really knows?) was dealt with efficiently by Ben.

The set piece that followed was the strongest section of the Waiting for Gaddot and one of the funniest pieces in a comedy show I’ve seen for a while. Ed Aczel’s performance as a very boring stand-up comedian is masterful.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, safe to say the pace of the show ramps up towards the end, giving the audience something twisted, fun and unpredictable. Despite a slow start and certain sections feeling disjointed, this is a well-written, unique, alternative show.