I'm Sorry &I'm Sorry
nytheatre.com review by Ivanna Cullinan
September 5, 2006
Smartly written and admirably executed, the Candidatos describe their show I'm Sorry & I'm Sorry as "a mildly macabre adventure of incompetent betrayal." This gloriously insane show is more than competently performed by Kevin Wall and Justin Rose, two talented performers who developed this piece with help from the Missoula's Children's Theater. But do not be fooled, this show has a few humorously gruesome moments and is not for the innocent of heart.
I'm Sorry & I'm Sorry is the absurd tale of an alcoholic French sailor and his excessively dramatic actor friend, in what must be one of the funniest "worst-morning-after" stories ever. The show starts with the sailor carrying an enormous cloth sack, dropping it and wandering off. So what, eh? But the bag then moves and pandemonium commences as the actor friend emerges from it. Now, a man in a sack is a slightly odd but good way to start a show. However, tweak the image by having a knife in that man's back—and suddenly it becomes a great way to start a show. A myriad of questions instantly are generated and a good part of the next 90 minutes goes to unraveling exactly what did happen on that fateful evening before. Despite numerous changes in each version of what did happen, neither clown loses clarity and I found it delightful to watch how they got away with certain outrageous claims, at least for awhile.
The sailor Jean is the quieter of the two, sporting an adorable version of the classic thief's pantyhose mask and exploiting a comic French accent to the fullest. This clown balances well with the astonishingly verbose and charming actor-laddy, who with a pan-British accent is always willing to stop the action to perform for a tip. Their audience interaction together and separately is lovely. Both men keep going at a high level of energy that is infectious. The show itself has a multitude of details and twists, occasionally verging on too many but usually rescued by a consistently high level of fun.
It also ends up being a very amusing comment on friendship and what friends are allowed to do to each other. Without ever making a heavy-handed comment, the show does slyly and literally toss out the question of the boundaries of friendship, and what loneliness can make one clown permit from another. But these are questions to consider lightly after the show. You'll be too busy laughing while you are there.
For anyone who has been in the theatre, who has seen any theatre, who has seen Masterpiece Theatre, who has a sense of humor—this show is a great laugh.
