Dinner.

National Theatre

DINNER
by Moira Buffini

Loft Theatre To 14 December 2002
Runs 2hr 10min No interval
Review Timothy Ramsden 13 December

Comic, tense, sharp and bitter yet with rays of hope, there is far more here than many early reviews suggested.Somewhere there should be a theatre award bearing the name Buffini. Whether the first name ought to be writer Moira, her director sister Fiona, or both, is an intriguing question. Between them, with the ingredients of a fine cast, they've cooked up a dramatic meal far more palate-tingling than anything hostess Paige's silent, sombre waiter places upon the table in a play that cracks along over two hours, tightening its grip all the way.

These diners are mostly affluent, and nasty or wacky too. Paige's husband Lars (Nicholas Farrell desperately seeking humanity among the smugness) is best-selling author of a positive thinking pop psychology tome. Superman with a self-proclaimed conscience, he's leaving Paige for the alternative Wynne, a bicycling vegetarian. Penny Downie gives her a humour-edged preciosity with a submissive admiration no doubt attractive to Lars.

She's left her politician partner behind, making an odd number for Paige's showcase meal, with fellow invitees Hal a scientist denying any malign side to his government contract and glamorous 'newsbabe' partner Sian.

The vacant space is taken up by party wildcard, Mike. A passing van-driver marooned by a fogbound accident, he's the kind the rest generally see only through a tradesman's entrance. He seems threatening, but suffers increasing violence meekly, emblematic victim of the others' bickering hostilities.

For Paige's revenge party is a hate act, compounded of the waste she feels her life to be. Harriet Walter's achievement is to take an apparently soulless woman and show the deep suffering beneath the behavioural masks.

It's this sense that enriches the play beyond social satire and Buffini's quiverful of dialogue quips. All the characters are put to the test. It's a bit (a very little bit) like a sparked-upThe Admirable Crichton: under pressure character emerges in all its depth or shallowness.

In the Loft's intimacy, every seat catches aspects of expressive interplay. For me, it was the glances between Catherine McCormack and Adrian Rawlins, which prepared for the later complexity of their hate/need relation.

And Christopher Ettridge is outstanding as the Eternal Footman whose icy compsure finally reveals a humanity beyond most of the characters.

Paige: Harriet Walter
Lars: Nicholas Farrell
Wynne: Penny Downie
Hal: Adrian Rawlins
Sian: Catherine McCormack
Mike: Paul Rattray
Waiter: Christopher Ettridge

Director: Fiona Buffini
Designer: Rachel Blues
Lighting: Pete Bull
Sound: Rich Walsh
Company voice work: Kate Godfrey

2002-12-16 14:34:56