Jennifer Cheung, Adam Soule, Elise Spoerlein and Evan Linder/Photo: Matthew Freer
RECOMMENDED
Real, honest-to-god naturalism in theater is so difficult to achieve that it’s no wonder many modern playwrights and young companies are shying away from it. The returns are too low and the risks are too high. But if Spenser Davis’ production of Michael Perlman’s “At The Table” proves anything, it’s that these kinds of plays and performances can still create the subtlest kind of magic—an enchanted mirror in which you see your whole world reflected. The year might be young but this production from Broken Nose Theatre is one of the best shows you’re likely to see in 2017.
The script itself is a familiar take: four well-off, liberal college buddies in their early thirties gather together with assorted friends and lovers at a lake home (owned, naturally, by someone’s parents) for a weekend of food, fun and drink, that devolves into a series of fights and recriminations. The problems the characters bring with them are a mix of personal and political—combined with an increasing awareness of how intermingled those two categories have become. Eventually, the play starts circling one conflict in particular: the relationship between Lauren (Echaka Agba), a black woman, and her closest friends, Elliott (David Weiss), Stuart (Evan Linder) and Nate (Adam Soule), who are all white men.
Unlike the work of Annie Baker or Samuel Hunter, two young playwrights who have made quiet realism their bread and butter, “At The Table” is louder, more free flowing and oftentimes quite raucous. The ample offerings of wine, whiskey and weed help. Rare are the moments where these characters suffer quietly—and when they do it is just a long prelude to an outburst. Agba, Linder and Weiss all give truly standout performances—but they are really just the top three among equals.
The brilliance here, from both Spenser and the cast, is in the details. It’s in capturing the way that a certain subset of person (youngish, liberal, well-intentioned) actually talk and act. There is an interiority to all the performances that is striking—people searching for what they’re trying to say as they say it and oftentimes coming up short. It’s like Chekhov for the smartphone generation. And it’s definitely a must-see. (Alex Huntsberger)
Broken Nose Theatre at the Berger Park Coach House, 6205 North Sheridan, brokennosetheatre.com, pay-what-you-can. Through March 11.
Related Stories
Breaking Bonds: With Summer Remount, Broken Nose Theatre Invites Audiences Back To The Table By Alex Huntsberger For five years, Broken Nose Theatre has been a fixture of the city’s storefront scene. Until recently, they were best known for Bechdel Fest, their yearly new-play showcase in which every show absolutely has to do one thing: pass the dang Bechdel Test. But now they’re known for “At The Table.” Written by Michael Perlman and directed…- Not So Plain, Not So Simple: A Review of Plainclothes at Broken Nose Theatre Just in time for the holiday sale season, Broken Nose Theatre presents the world premiere of this new play by Spenser Davis about the iniquities and injustices of late capitalism
- Boxed In: A Review of Girl in the Red Corner at Broken Nose Theatre While not quite a knockout, this Midwest premiere puts femme rage at the center of a cathartic story.
- Running To Stand Still: A Review of The Opportunities of Extinction at Broken Nose Theatre Broken Nose Theatre's production of Sam Chanse's play captures the absurd melancholy of life in the sixth mass extinction.
- Speaking in Tongues: A Review of Language Rooms at Broken Nose Theatre Independent components come together to enlighten a darkened corner of our universe in this Midwest premiere from Yussef El Guindi.
- A Snapshot of Reel Life: A Review of Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Raven Theatre Company Written in the nineties and set in the fifties, the young women of Lynn Nottage's play, currently being produced at Raven Theatre, eagerly await a revolution that has still yet to materialize.
