12 November 2015
Dinner with Friends
The Park Theatre, Finsbury Park
reviewed by Adam McCormack
If you and your partner were to split up – who would get to keep your mutual friends? This is the question at the heart of Tom Attenborough’s new production of “Dinner with Friends” at the Park Theatre.
Tom and Beth were introduced to each other some 12 years ago by arch-foodies Gabe and Karen, and Beth takes the earliest opportunity to let the couple know that Tom has left her. This incenses Tom who makes a late night journey in a blizzard to put his side of the story. However, for Gabe and Karen this is not just a question of picking sides, as the news causes them to evaluate their own situation. Has the passion gone from their marriage? How exciting would it be to start over again with the thrill and excitement of courtship? All of these issues are explored with great humour and pathos in this production, with strong performances from Hari Dhillon (ex-Holby City) as Tom, Finty Williams as artist Beth, Shaun Dooley as Gabe and Sara Stewart (most recently in Dr Foster) as Karen.
Donald Margulies play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2000 and has lost nothing of its power in the intervening years, with the passion for food a still appropriate backdrop. The set design, which allows the foodies kitchen to become a bedroom, and then a sitting room is quite brilliant for such a small venue. The Park Theatre has all the intimacy of the Donmar, without having to trek to central London and with the facility to actually get a ticket. However, the ease of ticket purchase seems likely to change given the consistent high quality of recent productions. Maybe writing this review is a mistake… Runs until 28th November.
