Alex Grech has written the new absurdist comedy Awaiting Evaluation and also plays the character of Sid in the show. It heads to Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
“Faced with limitless opportunity, the start of the rest of your life ahead, with endless questions that have no right answer. What else is there to do but take solace in the outrageous company of a meaningful companion? A high school administrative office, rules, routine, superiors and peers. In this world, Sid and Ali are left to their adolescent quandaries of identity, purpose and affection, turning in a perpetual limbo, waiting in vain for the principal’s arrival. Always on the move but never quite moving on, Sid and Ali continuously spin in place.”
Where: Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court
When: 7-29 Aug (not 16 or 23)
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/awaiting-evaluation
What can you tell us about your show? What is it about and where did the idea come from?
Well, what I can say is that Awaiting Evaluation is a rollercoaster of an absurdist comedy. We step into the world of two high school students, Sid & Ali, who, left to their adolescent quandaries of identity, purpose, and affection, spin in a perpetual limbo, waiting in vain for the principal’s arrival. Unwittingly trapped in this administrative waiting room from hell, with rules, routine, superiors, and peers, complicating their tarry and testing their patience.
Sid & Ali sit on the precipice of seemingly limitless opportunity, the start of the rest of their lives tantalizingly close, yet ever uncertain, facing endless questions with no ‘right’ answers. In such a world, what better way to live than to take solace and share the long and winding road in the outrageous company of a meaningful companion?
Funnily enough, I wrote the first draft of this play with one of my best friends during our senior year at an international boarding school in regional Australia. The soul of what would become Awaiting Evaluation was born out of a fascination with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and late-night access to a black box theatre on campus. After graduating from NYU TISCH in 2024, I found that over the years and many, many drafts, the piece had grown into something that I felt was really powerful and that it was time to start sharing and collaborating on it.
An otherwise unlikely friendship, bonding over a shared but individual anticipation, to step out of the microcosm of school and into the ‘real’ world. Awaiting Evaluation offers audiences a chance to watch Sid & Ali hilariously and heartbreakingly grapple the same existential questions we all do.
Attempting to define a sense of identity in similar ways, through institutions, relationships, conversations and experiences over time. It’s my hope that in watching Sid & Ali, audiences will see something of themselves and something else entirely. In doing so, leaving the theatre willing to show each stranger the same kind of patience and curiosity they would hope to receive themselves.
How would you sell it to audiences in one paragraph?
I think we can all agree that the world of 2026 is nothing if not a strange, chaotic and rapidly changing one. We all have, or will at some point in our lives, be met with a moment where we feel compelled to change, as if we are being pulled towards it. Perhaps it’s born out of a feeling of stagnation or monotony, or perhaps we simply arrive at one of the many major crossroads in life and are struck in that moment with both anxiety and anticipation.
Two sides of a coin that spins in the air. Hope or dread? Neither is certain till the coin lands, but while it flips, they exist together in a rare limbo for that moment. While the questions and emotions we watch Sid & Ali struggle through in Awaiting Evaluation are timeless to the human experience, I feel that particularly in the uncertain world of 2026, we could all do with a reminder that the coin isn’t what really matters, it’s the people who help us know it will land hope up every time that really matters.
Do you enjoy participating in the Fringe? And do you have any moments you particularly remember?
This year will be my first time performing at Fringe, and I honestly can’t wait. From all that I’ve heard, it’s a real trial by fire, but I love a good challenge, and I’m incredibly lucky to have an amazing cast & crew behind the project, as well. I’m looking forward to it being a great learning experience, and I have the distinct feeling that flyering during the day while the streets are bustling will lead to some formative memories.
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh?
Just performing honestly. It’s such a pleasure to be performing as part of the Fringe that I think once we adjust and get the team settled, we can all start to really enjoy the sort of play in performances like this one that make both
performing and viewing live theatre so uniquely entertaining.
What’s next for the show?
Well, people will have to stay tuned. What I can reveal is that Sid & Ali’s story does not end with the final bow. As with everything in Awaiting Evaluation, everything is both what it is and something else entirely… And with a whole second act and epilogue, who’s to say what Sid & Ali’s past and indeed future might hold?