Two couples have a sour reunion in Patrick Marber’s production of Nathan Englander’s play, updated from his 2011 short story to include events after 7 October
Tautly dramatic … Dorothea Myer-Bennet, Caroline Catz, Joshua Malina, Gabriel Howell and Simon Yadoo in What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.Tautly dramatic … Dorothea Myer-Bennet, Caroline Catz, Joshua Malina, Gabriel Howell and Simon Yadoo in What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.. The room is Debbie and Phil’s swank Florida kitchen; the other Jews are Debbie’s former schoolfriend and her husband, visiting from Israel.
With its nebbish bravura, Englander’s skittish story prodded the unspeakable during the Obama years. We’re in a different place now: directorThe former friends assess each other: Shoshana in her married woman’s wig, a resplendent blond torrent, versus svelte Deb . The Israelis browse Instagram and smoke weed. Everyone gets pissed and then high.Englander thoughtfully develops his scenario, probing the characters’ backstories, giving them a whole new set of stuff to kvetch about.
The story is already rich in dialogue . Marber keeps the chat tautly dramatic, filling Anna Fleischle’s elegant skeleton of a kitchen with the antagonistic cross-currents of things best left unsaid. Standout among the strong performances is Dorothea Myer-Bennett’s Shoshana, playing the dialogue like a sardonic musical virtuoso. Gabriel Howell, wonderful as the hosts’ teenage son, makes a blearily unimpressed master of ceremonies.
And the title? That’s a revealingly nasty “game of ultimate truth” from the girls’ childhood. In Anne Frank’s position, who would shelter you? The story ends in heart-stopping mistrust – the play elaborates the game’s ceremonial atmosphere and adds an inward-looking gravity. Even so, a piece built on angst and zingers can’t quite hold this political moment with all its fury and despair.
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