Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower

Stefan Golaszweski has had a good year. His debut production, Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Woman He Once Loved was a major hit at the 2008 Fringe, took a Fringe First Award, toured internationally, enjoyed a successful off-Broadway run and is now in development to be made into a feature film. So, naturally, his Edinburgh return is being studied with interest.

This year’s offering Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower is a faux semi-autobiographical monologue projected some forty years into the future. It is the story of Golaszewski’s most significant relationship and is, at times, bracingly beautiful. Set in 2056 (but save for a few references to non-existent super-technology, is effectively timeless) this is a powerful melodrama, in which a perfect relationship crumbles under the strain of unbearable tragedy.  

But for a fleeting moment, …Is A Widower looks like it could be an utter turkey. We set our scene in a church (“who gets married in a church, these days?”) on Golaszewski’s wedding day. We’re entering the third decade of the 21^st century and everything is lovely.  Too lovely. Golaszewski describes a picture perfect scene so saccharine, so sickly sweet, as to be wholly unreal. Smacking of lazy schmaltz and bordering on cliché, this opening segment gives little indication of the emotional depth of events to come.

Golaszewski is a commanding stage presence, a near-spitting image for The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers. His is a nuanced, vibrant performance whose great strength is in its narrative: which makes it profoundly difficult to adequately praise …Is A Widower without revealing too much. 

The Skinny previewed this event here.