Cliché away!
Boy, is this a misnomer.Tired Clichés is anything but.
Vancouver writer/performer TJ Dawe is a dervish, whirling about the stage, filled with manic energy, speaking at a machine-gun clip.
At first the work seems inspired by Seinfeld - you know, it's about nothing. Dawe talks about small, everyday events - waiting for a light to cross the street (he keeps returning to this simple story), the minimum wage, working the graveyard shift, graduating from university, how yuppies walk their dogs as compared to how the poor walk their dogs, how a cat throws up, etc.
All this disjoined, almost surreal information is thrown at you at a blistering, near bewildering, clip in the form of little free-form anecdotes. The performer falls somewhere in the cracks, he is neither comic nor storyteller but combination of both - an engaging observer who holds you fascinated by his flights of whimsy and off-centre view of life.
At times, he climbs on a chair and does a somersault into a pile of boxes.
To make sure you know each story has reached the end - or at least AN end - Dawe is accompanied by drummer Jason Overy who gives a ka-thump when the current tale winds down ... and then starts off with an entirely new rhythm reminding one of the old album, Word Jazz.
Soon, you find yourself caught up in the seemingly meaningless detail of this young man's life. Then he begins to pull on the strings he has laid down. You begin to see how one story impacts on the next until ... I'm not going to go any farther because I don't want to steal any of Dawe's (or your) fun.
We leave Tired Clichés with no new insights or knowledge but this intelligent performer gives his small, inventive story epic proportions and a pleasing human dimension.
Colin MacLean
Edmonton Sun
August 13, 1999
