←Recommendations of Erstwhile

Right away I was drawn into, "Who is Veronica?" "Who is this mysterious man?" What did she do or he do? What does he want? I followed Weaver down the rabbit hole and when the lights finally came up - I was astonished. Weaver gives us a past - that is maybe not reliable and a present that is maybe broken with a tale that makes you wondering long after the play ends.

An eerie and compelling exploration of memory and responsibility. We sit in the dark with Veronica on several levels, wondering who is this mystery man as she struggles not just with his answers, but to find the right questions. The unsettling moment of illumination leaves us with more questions and eschews any facile explanations or healing.

Memory is rarely reliable. How many grudges have we held and how many chips have formed on our shoulders in response to the actions of someone who hasn't thought of us once in that time? This highly theatrical, deliciously tense play puts us right in Veronica's place, trying to reconcile her own memory with the way she made someone feel. It really made me think about the weight we have in the lives of others, and how none of us can be fully known. Incredibly engaging and compelling work!

There are a number of approaches actors can take with ERSTWHILE, by Matthew Weaver. And any of them would leave the audience with strong feelings. I heard this as a woman's kindness leading to the frightening unknown. And it's a quite normal premise. ERSTWHILE will haunt any evening or festival of plays.

I have a word for this kind of play: I call it a "hothouse" play: a work that exists within its own reality, fights to survive within that reality, and defines itself within the terms of that reality. Matthew Weaver's "Erstwhile" created a sense of dread that held me from beginning to end. This piece demands a production. Nuff said!!!

Haunting short. The disturbing tableau on stage when the lights come up will thrill audiences. I also love where we're left - reminding me of the Soprano's blackout. Tense, suspenseful and mysterious.

Ominous. An innocent clue leaves the audience quite literally in the dark.

Ooh, weird and very creepy. This unsettling short is at its core, I think, looking at gender, but through such a (wonderfully) odd lens. Delicious and so dang strong.

I'm so worried for Veronica. And perhaps she is selfish. Perhaps she isn't. Perhaps she is trapped. Perhaps she isn't. It's the not knowing that is terrifying.

Suspensful from the jump, and deeply unsettling to the very end - mostly because Weaver’s commitment to confounding expectations never wavers. Our brains want to make real-world sense of this abstract scenario, and assign meaning and motives and expected behaviors based on all the other suspense stories we’ve seen…but Weaver has a firm hand on the story he’s telling, and it’s its own, strange beast. This one lingers.