Food Glorious Food
Dinner With Friends makes ya want seconds
The main characters in Dinner With Friends have been living and enjoying the same life as one another for many years. And then the day comes that one couple has an epiphany. The life they've been living is a waste of energy and they've decided to call it quits. This realization illustrates the central issue of Dinner With Friends, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Donald Margulies. The play tells the story of one couple's American Beauty-style mid-life crisis and how their married friends react. Its most soul-piercing quality is that it explores with intense accuracy how people relate to crisis and how they synthesize new emotions and experiences into their existing lives.
Dinner With Friends, currently being performed by the Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Plays & Players Theater (1714 Delancey Street) is the story of two couples forced to reexamine their relationships after years of marriage. The show might be more aptly named Wasps on the Rocks. The play starts at the home of Gabe and Karen, two food critics. Their closest friend, Beth, is over enjoying a sumptuous meal and listening to tantalizing tales of home cooking in the Italian country side, while her husband, Tom, is conspicuously missing. The two couples' children are upstairs watching television. Then Beth drops a bombshell: She and Tom are getting a divorce and Tom has been having an affair with a flight attendant.
Later that night Tom comes and tells his side of the story. He tells how Beth has never been there for him emotionally or physically, and how he has found salvation in the arms of a travel agent. One of the main themes of the play describes the lies we tell ourselves and each other to justify our behavior. The audience never gets the whole truth about why Tom and Beth fell out of love, or if they ever were in love. Karen and Gabe are right to question whether or not their blissful marriage is as fragile and penetrable as their friends'.
The script carries this play. It is intricate and complicated and leaves the audience with a lot to consider. This is not to say the acting lacks talent. The performers appear to be totally comfortable with one another. Maybe a little too comfortable at some points. The first act of the show demonstrated some disconnection and fake emotion among the players, but on the opening night (my viewing), leniency is allowed. If the power and sincerity of the second act is any indication, this play's run in Philly will be successful.
Dinner With Friends is playing at the Plays & Players Theater until November 18. Call (215) 569-9700 for more information.
