Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Low Down
A universally strong cast from the Exeter University Theatre Company present a chilling adaptation of Bullini’s Dinner. Full of the egregious bourgeoisie, it’s a tale of the worst kind of behaviour from the metropolitan smart set. Superbly set and acted, it’s a piece of theatre not to be missed.
Review
Shakespeare knew how to stage a dinner party or two with that quintessential dramatic twist. Ghostly apparitions anyone? Or how about one with a frightfully jolly, cannibalisitic theme?
Moira Buffini’s Dinner, which debuted at the National Theatre in London back in 2002, borrows this template and has been seen in many guises since. But her full length play exposing the endemic bitchiness of the bourgeoisie, whilst amusing, always felt a little predictable, ultimately descending into a series of self-obsessed bromides that tells us little more than this is a rather sad bunch of unhappy individuals intent only on their own survival in the primordial soup of supposedly civilised society.
So I was interested to see whether Exeter University Theatre Company’s adaptation could retain the bile whilst avoiding the repetition inherent in Buffini’s moralistic battering ram whilst playing characters at least double their own age, a challenge in itself. They did. And how.
A waiter is gracefully applying the finishing touches to an extremely well appointed dining table as Paige, the expensively attired hostess from hell, sweeps magisterially into the room. Her little soiree is in honour of husband Lars’ philosophical bestseller, appropriately entitled Beyond Belief, a telling guide to the action yet to unfold.
With the guest list incorporating an eminent microbiologist, his celebrity-newsreader wife and a bicycling bohemian artist out for revenge on her politician ex-lover, you’ve got the key elements of any metropolitan smart set. Throw in that staple plot device of a disruptor in the shape of the arrival of an unexpected stranger (in this case a working-class van man with a penchant for tall tales), then sit back, relax and watch as each indiscreet diner exposes the vacuum that is their life.
It’s a universally strong cast with Dylan Sweet as the (almost) mute waiter, serving the carefully curated menu with grace and discretion, one that includes dishes that are as bizarre as they are bewildering – primordial soup, an amusing little “apocalypse of lobster” (where you can either dunk it in boiling water or release the crustacean in a brine-filled pool) and a dessert of frozen waste.
Isabella Maunder (Paige) doesn’t so much preside as lord it over the feast, dripping acid-laced remarks in a manner that makes Lucrezia Borgia seem like a pussy cat. Geffen Katz-Kaye is appropriately pretentious as her husband and Charlie Holland the epitomy of an avant garde artist who is not so much on another wavelength as another planet.
Tristan Berry as Hal, our rather intense, edgy microbiologist is perfectly opposed by Sasha Hawksworth’s portrayal of his wife, Sian, determined to show that she’s got a brain of her own that can do more than just read an autocue. Oli Silverman as Mike, the aforementioned plot device, in many ways has the toughest challenge as an actor – how to shape the character so that it holds a mirror up to the collection of the more egregiously inclined in the room whilst imparting a few home truths with a modicum of subtlety. That he delivers this in spades speaks volumes for this talented actor.
The onstage action also owes much to the behind the scenes creative team, supporting what was a gloriously staged and delivered piece of theatre. Script editing was spot-on, direction tight and the overall presentation perfect, with every part (and more) of the stage used to telling effect.
Definitely a high quality piece of theatre that’s highly recommended. But maybe bring your own comestibles.
