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Toby

nytheatre.com review by Leslie Bramm
August 15, 2005

Two actors, both named Toby, are cast in a production of Waiting for Godot in a regional theatre in Vermont. Playing to dwindling and even dying audiences, they soon discover that they are trapped in a show that they can never leave. Paranoia creeps in and before they know it, they start to become Godot's Vladimir and Estragon.Toby is most poignant when the author has the actors quoting from Beckett’s play. Phillip Bettencourt, as Toby, and Timothy J. Cox, also as Toby, both give solid performances. But I find that there are a couple of problematic aspects with this production.First, my sense is that Toby wants to parallel Godot, but it lacks the equivalent pathos. It is my understanding that Beckett’s nihilist masterpiece is a result of the horrors he witnessed during World War II. Anthony P. Pennino’s play doesn’t seem to come from any such grounded source. Meaning: Beckett wrote his play because he had to. Maybe for his own sanity? Pennino’s spoof comes across as just that. If his intention is to lampoon Godot (and I'm not sure I understand why he would want to do that), Toby is neither broad nor absurd enough to accomplish this. And also, it feels a bit long—a crisp, clean 60 minutes might serve the purpose better.Second, the direction. Don Jordan, assisted by Michael Criscuolo, doesn't seem to have found a suitable rhythm for this piece. They have instead allowed the actors to fall sometimes into distracting moments of mugging and scenery chewing. When you have just two characters in a single setting, then some emotional choreography is vital. I feel that the director(s) left the actors to do too much organic exploration. The relationship between the Tobys never develops past the dictates of the plot. This might have been an attempt to recreate Beckett’s characters, but Pennino’s text seems to be searching for further character development.All that said, the play has a sharp and well-developed sense of humor, not only in the banter exchanged by the two Tobys, but in the situations as well. A particularly enjoyable and well-acted bit is one in which Toby suggests to Toby they should be homosexual lovers in order to attract women. We recognize what's being said here is to stave off the sense of isolation and loneliness. There is also much inside joking about actors and actor’s foibles and egos. The average civilian might not get the inside humor, but since FringeNYC audiences tend to teem with theatre people the jokes don’t get lost. Particularly funny are Toby and Toby engaging in a Meisner/Strasberg-esque "Actor Prepares" moment. We see how silly and daring the actor’s job can be. And let’s be honest: there's nothing more fun than laughing at how actors struggle to be actors.By the end of the play Toby and Toby have fused completely with Vladimir and Estragon. We see the characters trapped in a perpetual state of Godot. Maybe when we examine our own meaningless, isolated, and repetitive lives, we find we are our own Tobys.