Dinner
by Moira Buffini

Presented by Lancaster Footlights
at The Grand Theatre Lancaster
from 13 - 15 September, 2006
& at the Gregson Centre, Lancaster
on 26 & 27 September 2006

Are you being served . . . blood?
To be honest I hate dinner parties. One is bullied into making flattering remarks about food that is often so badly cooked and presented that it makes the slop served up at your average pub lunch seem like haute cuisine. And why do I always find myself seated between the most awful people? But my misgivings are nothing compared to Moira Buffini’s Dinner, which depicts a real dinner party from hell.

Paige (Katherine Clark) a ruthless and bitchy society lady, is holding a dinner party supposedly to celebrate her husband (Paul Collins) Lar’s new book. But from the very beginning the relationship between the wife and the curiously silent waiter (Geoff Houghton) seems strange. Not surprisingly the waiter cum butler turns out to be something he’s not. In fact he’s a hired assassin. Hired, though, not to kill the suicidal hostess' husband but to finish her off as an unexpected end of party piece.

Initially under Paige’s domineering direction everything appears to be going off pretty well though there’s still an element of Roald Dahl-like unease beneath all the merriment. But as the party progresses Paige acts in a manner that becomes more and more shocking. Eventually it is realised, as the dishes served become increasingly bizarre, that the dinner party was planned as a revenge on her husband, Lars for their faltering marriage and his not so secret intent to divorce her.

The waiter does his evil work, Paige gets her revenge and the dinner guests recoil in horror as the play ends. The ending, even though re-written, still disappoints. It ought to have the pathos of Beatrice’s end in Middleton’s The Changeling ('Tis time to die when 'tis a shame to live) but somehow it’s too telegraphed and almost comic.

Moira, who trained first as an actress, and her director sister Fiona are part of the second wave of nineties “in yer face theatre” crowd. This is a provocative confrontational style of drama whose main aim is to shock with a heady mixture of sex, violence and obscenities. It was brave of Footlights to attempt such a post-modern play, even if of necessity the language appears to have been toned down a little for an amateur production. Well, provincial watch committees are less tolerant than the GLC (or whatever it’s called these days) and one doesn’t want to offend the blue rinse brigade.*

The guests include a horrendously mis-matched couple, Hal (Tony Young) as an insecure scientist married to a seemingly frigid TV newsreader Sian (Kym Howie) who bicker like hell throughout the evening but then suddenly make up and cuddle.

Stir in as a green organic lover, Wynne (Sandie Perrin) who still has a schoolgirl crush on her host, and drop in a smidgen of “lost” van driver, Mike (Scott Preston) who claims to lead a double life as a burglar and comes over as a bit of rough (much admired by the ladies) and you have a cocktail recipe designed to give you a severe hangover.

The success of the play hangs very heavily on the shoulders of party hostess Paige and fortunately Katherine gives a smouldering performance as the femme fatale. It’s a wonderfully timed performance which holds your attention as her behaviour steadily but surely becomes more bizarre. She is ably supported by a solid cast. Notable amongst these are Sandie Perrin as the slightly nutty vegan, and Kym Howie as the manipulative newsreader, Sian.

If I have a gripe it’s that the play cries out for studio. preferably theatre- in- the- round, production which would give more face to face audience contact. This was the original presentation of choice and it would be interesting to see it performed again in more intimate surroundings, preferably joining in the drinking with the cast.** Though I doubt personally if I could match Paige glass for glass.

Overall an interesting and entertaining production and a brave choice by Footlights of a less safe play than amateurs usually attempt. Maybe the success of this production will tempt them to try their hand at Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill or Anthony Neilson, or even my home town favourite, John Godber. One can but hope.

c. Keith Walker 14/09/2006
This review is of the 14 September performance.

* Curiously it still attracted at lease one complaint. Unfortunately the “strong language” warning appeared only in the programme not the posters. Footlights were quick to respond by putting a clear warning on their publicity for
“Brass’d Off”.
** I didn’t see the Gregson Centre performance which I’m told was more “intimate”.