Andrew Wade didn’t have to go very far afield to research his latest one-man production that is part of this year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival.
Essentially, all the Richmond playwright and performer had to do was look in the mirror and get a little retrospective on his life to date.
“It’s the story of a geek and his pet cactus as they try to not do anything,” he said, adding the central character in William vs. The World is an exaggerated version of himself.
“If you’ve ever had that dream where you’re just allowed to stay at home, alone with your books and your TV shows, games and not have to interact with the world,” he said, “well, this is about someone who tried to make that dream happen and fails miserably.
“It’s also about fighting those impulses to take weeks off and be just left alone to enjoy the things you have,” he added. “For me, in reality, that’s balanced with a strong impetus to create, be creative and productive.
“But for William, he is someone who doesn’t have that balance. So, he’s left to his own devices as much as possible to try and make his perfect world happen.”
Wade calls that the “ultimate, endless vacation,” which is interrupted when William is faced with the cold, harsh reality that to fund his lifestyle he will have to emerge from his cocoon-like existence in a veritable fortress of solitude he’s fashioned in a basement apartment and actually fill a role in society.
“And with William’s potentially, undiagnosed autism, it causes him more issues, until it all comes crashing down and he is forced to grow as a human being and realize he can’t make his life perfect,” Wade said. “But he can make his life better.”
While that may all seem quite morose, Wade promises his tale does have plenty of comedy —especially when William sings to his pet cactus named Chuck. Plus, it has an uplifting message audiences can take away with them.
“I have a blast, getting to geek out on stage and make people laugh, be silly and ridiculous and generally clown around,” Wade said. “And then, William learns that you can’t live your life as an NPC (non-player character). There’s an element in life where you have to be the hero in your own story.
“The world will always be putting challenges in front of you with problems you have to confront and challenges you have to defeat,” he said. “And you can only run away from that kind of stuff for so long. But life is better when you decide to be your own hero.”
Wade said that results in the geekiest, heart-warming comedy he could create — one which has been well received in other markets when he performed William vs. The World at the fringe festival in Saskatoon last year and in Port Alberni earlier this summer at the Solstice Festival.
William vs. The World runs Sept. 9 – 17 at Arts Umbrella on Granville Island (1286 Cartwright Street).
For more about the show and other Vancouver Fringe Festival productions, visit online at VancouverFringe.com.
