Chamber Theater concludes its current season with an excellent production of Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner with Friends.
Two long-married couples must deal with the repercussions when one of the marriages collapses. The couples have been nearly inseparable for years -- sharing vacations together, raising kids together and spending most weekends together, especially in the early years of their marriages. The couple that stays together, Karen and Gabe, is completely shocked when their friend, Beth, makes a tearful announcement at dinner. Her husband, Tom, has walked out. What makes Dinner with Friends rise above the level of a sitcom is Margulies' perceptive, and sometimes fierce, writing. We see the characters' many sides, including their flaws. When Tom and Beth are unexpectedly reunited at home after Tom's flight is canceled, Beth (Mary MacDonald Kerr) and Tom (Jim Tasse) go into a battle that is chillingly real. The scene is intense and disturbing. Insults and accusations build until the scene thankfully ends. While this sounds like grim territory, Margulies manages to insert a great deal of humor. Much of it intentionally pokes fun at yuppies and their relationship with food. In the first scene, Karen and Gabe are so caught up by relating anecdotes from their recent vacation to Italy -- almost a bite-by-bite replay -- that Beth's tearful revelation about her upcoming divorce is almost a relief.
Dinner with Friends is more of a balancing act than it first appears. At first, one is almost immediately drawn to Beth's side. Further examination probably won't have the audience switching sides, although a male critic may disagree. Tom must create at least a sliver of sympathy as the play unfolds. To director Montgomery Davis' credit, Beth and Tom are able to manage this seesaw quite well. In the final scenes, they are even able to reflect on their relationship from a relatively objective point of view.
This is perhaps the scariest part of the journey for the "surviving" couple, Gabe (Norman Moses) and Karen (Carrie Hitchcock). Moses and Hitchcock are a real-life married couple as well as a make-believe" one, and it's impossible to separate their acting expertise from the real terror they may feel at this situation. Gabe and Karen are practically joined at the hip, and they take the news harder than many couples would. They are understandably sympathetic when Beth and Tom demonstrate their initial anger and loneliness. However, as Beth and Tom develop new lives -- with new partners and new interests -- Gabe and Karen realize that they can never maintain the friendships the way they once were. In fact, when Beth and Tom split, it's almost as if they know instinctively that it means saying goodbye to old friends, too.
Of the four characters, Jim Tasse has the toughest assignment as Tom. He manages to charm us in a flashback scene, so we understand the fragile connection between Tom and Beth. However, many marriages begin on shaky foundations. Others feel the pain years later. "We all go through a baseline period of wretchedness," as Gabe tells his friend, Tom. Who's to know what marriages will survive?
Dinner with Friends is attractively staged on Rick Graham's smartly rendered set, illuminated by Doug Vance. Amy Horst's costumes are also noteworthy, particularly as they span time and (in the case of Beth and Tom) a transformation of sorts.
