Tired Clichés
TJ Dawe is crafty. You'd have to work extra hours to spot all the threads he weaves together in Tired Cliches, the virtuosic monologue in which walk signals, kittens and the word postmodern all come to mean more than anyone might think. At first a seemingly random stream of consciousness -- similar, at times, to the musings of standup comic Steven Wright -- Tired Clichés turns into something more. But only those who are listening hard will see the art behind his craft.
Dawe, who is based in Vancouver, was judged best actor at last year's Fringe for his amazing monologue The Slip-Knot. At first Tired Clichés seems like a less polished effort. But this loose story of working a minimum-wage job on the graveyard shift turns into a crystalline snapshot of one single point in time.
Dawe brings it all together so that there's not a seam in sight, and he uses
his voice like a drum, striking faster and faster as he races to the story's
climax. This is a guy who knows what he's doing every second he's onstage.
Listen, and marvel.
Elizabeth Maupin
Orlando Sentinel
May 19, 2003
