A quartet of sturdy performances mitigate a lot of the smugness of Donald Margulies writing in Dinner with Friends on the Golden Goose Theatre in Camberwell
“One lousy handjob could have saved your marriage”
Front Foot Theatre mounted a very emotionally devastating manufacturing of Rabbit Hole earlier this 12 months so I used to be intrigued to see what they’d make of one other Pulitzer Prize-winning play in Donald Margulies’ 1998 drama Dinner with Friends. Truth be informed, I’d forgotten I’d seen the play earlier than, on the Park Theatre again in 2015 however given I wasn’t a lot of a fan of it then, who is aware of if I’d’ve booked in!
Margulies revels in his portrait of smug middle-class heteronormativity, two comfortably well-off {couples} who must cope with the fallout when considered one of them splits and the friendships between all of them are subsequently examined. Gabe and Karen are stuffed with the thrill of their Italian vacation however when Beth breaks down at a welcome dinner again as husband Tom is away with work, it’s clear there’s greater than the denseness of the polenta cake to fret about.
Part of Margulies’ thesis is about the best way by which data is relayed in conditions like these. Tom is gutted that Beth broke the information with out him because it now signifies that she is irrevocably answerable for the narrative. And as we skip round in time, manner again to the start of their relationship as Karen introduces the pair, there’s one thing of a research of how even picture-perfect marriages – and friendships – are hardly ever all the pieces they appear on the floor.
I’d argue although that the development of the play works towards an fascinating journey for these characters. Having set the narrative up on their closeness, the next obvious atomisation of the group doesn’t ring true as persona developments are delivered through exposition dumps as in the event that they’re strangers. A florid flip of phrase heightens this sense of artificiality which has an sadly alienating impact at occasions.
The saving grace is available in Lawrence Carmichael’s manufacturing which tries its finest to play up the lightness within the play. A mind-boggling eclectic rating accompanies motion interludes that talk to the little moments that make up a lot of a relationship. And a high quality forged work additional time to convey plausible emotionality to the script within the moments the place they will.
Helen Rose-Hampton and Jason Wilson as Karen and Gabe look on sorrowfully because the affect of their buddy’s divorce ripples by means of their very own marriage (Wilson is especially efficient). And Julia Papp and Kim Hardy every shine as they toil by means of that emotional wreckage to hopefully get to the opposite aspect. I stay largely unconvinced that Margulies’ play has something substantive to say concerning the real complexities of relationships however Front Foot Theatre and their manufacturing right here definitely do.