Come forth for a cautionary tale venturing through ancient history to modern masculinity; welcome to Mediocre White Male. Take your ticket and, with trepidation, make your way through the story of one man, trapped between his historically accurate workplace and modern day misogyny, with his own memoir laced in between.
This show is a candid and crumbling look at the male fragility, expertly brought forth in an hour of exceptional theatre.
A commanding force on stage, this production is a clever and poignant piece that is a testament to it’s razor sharp writing and it’s refined performance in tandem. From one pint, to three and then to five; the line between fiction and reality blurs for our main character and the sombre truth of it all is revealed.
Unlike in life, there are no blurred lines or grey areas to this play. Our thoroughly unlikable protagonist receives no redemption and is forced to sit in the life of his own making, as he grapples with the truth of what he’s done and who he intrinsically is.
Will Close, the star of the show, brings a balancing act of pensive energy and poignancy to the role, making us hang on his every word as the story slowly unfolds. Close has a clear command of the stage, flitting from guilt to denial with a glance. Co-writers Will Close and Joe von Malachowski have created a damning look at what it means to be male; highlighting how little has changed since the statues of these long past men were erected.
Mediocre White Male is the answer to the call for justice from the many unheard women everywhere. There is no character arc to redeem him and lying deep within that acknowledgement is the truth and ultimately, the success of this piece of theatre. This show is a candid and crumbling look at the male fragility, expertly brought forth in an hour of exceptional theatre.
