This weekend sees the first performances of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, a one-man show based on Charles Yu’s acclaimed novel. Last night was the opening night, and according to the Columbus Dispatch it was a huge hit.
Jennifer Fawcett and Matt Slaybaugh adapted Yu’s novel into a stage play, keeping a lot of the same themes and ideas, and Ian Short (pictured up top) stars in it. Writes the Dispatch:
Thoughtful and wistful, endlessly clever but grimly funny, the solo work revolves – and revolves – around a time-machine repairman searching for his long-lost-in-time father while struggling to avoid getting lost himself.
Beyond its rare status as a sci-fi play that actually works, this moving meditation on memory and regret offers a time-warped 21st-century update of No Exit and other existential dramas. Here is an intriguing futuristic take on Waiting for Godot, with the sad clown even more hapless because he’s waiting for himself.
This project raised over $6,000 on Kickstarter last month, and you can watch the Kickstarter video, with more information about Fawcett and Slaybaugh’s take on the material, over there. Click the link for more info on upcoming performances. [Available Light Theater]
