Spring Break
The Daily OrangeActors bring passion to 'Dinner' table
By Angela Chan
Posted: 9/26/03, 3:31 PM EST Section: Feature
Marriage counselors deserve to be held in the highest of regards - especially if all marriages include extended silent treatments, sexual degradation and fantasies of sex with your wife's sister.
If those were their only problems, perhaps the three divorced couples in "The Dinner Party" would not cry and scream and tear one another to pieces. But if those were their only problems, the play would not speak so loudly about the all-encompassing human need to love and to be loved.
"The Dinner Party" previewed last night at the Black Box Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St.
Claude, Albert and Andre, the three men of the play, are introduced first. One by one, they arrive at a high-class restaurant in France. They have received invitations to a dinner party there, but the mysterious host is nowhere to be found. They quickly discovered their common thread - they all had the same divorce lawyer.
At first, the men thought that the party was an opportunity to meet new women. But as each of their ex-wives showed up, they realized that was not the case.
The play picks up momentum when each couple is given alone time to discuss their problems. More accurately, they viciously rip into their ex-spouse's most sensitively guarded emotions. All three couples have serious issues, but as the play progresses, the intense depths of their relationships are revealed. The results are an honest and sincere depiction of what happens when people lose love.
Allison Reed, a senior acting major, and Nick Nerio, a junior musical theatre major, shine as Yvonne and Albert. They are the most innocent and kind of the three couples. They have married and divorced twice. Before the dinner party, Albert, angry and broken by the divorces, had been giving Yvonne the silent treatment for more than a year. She breaks the silence.
"I never meant to leave you twice," she said. "Once was good enough for me."
Yvonne and Albert's first argument reflects the awkward and unavoidably emotional feelings that arise from seeing an ex for the first time after a break-up. Reed, in a very credible performance, expresses guilt, anger and regret.
If those were their only problems, perhaps the three divorced couples in "The Dinner Party" would not cry and scream and tear one another to pieces. But if those were their only problems, the play would not speak so loudly about the all-encompassing human need to love and to be loved.
"The Dinner Party" previewed last night at the Black Box Theatre at Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St.
Claude, Albert and Andre, the three men of the play, are introduced first. One by one, they arrive at a high-class restaurant in France. They have received invitations to a dinner party there, but the mysterious host is nowhere to be found. They quickly discovered their common thread - they all had the same divorce lawyer.
At first, the men thought that the party was an opportunity to meet new women. But as each of their ex-wives showed up, they realized that was not the case.
The play picks up momentum when each couple is given alone time to discuss their problems. More accurately, they viciously rip into their ex-spouse's most sensitively guarded emotions. All three couples have serious issues, but as the play progresses, the intense depths of their relationships are revealed. The results are an honest and sincere depiction of what happens when people lose love.
Allison Reed, a senior acting major, and Nick Nerio, a junior musical theatre major, shine as Yvonne and Albert. They are the most innocent and kind of the three couples. They have married and divorced twice. Before the dinner party, Albert, angry and broken by the divorces, had been giving Yvonne the silent treatment for more than a year. She breaks the silence.
"I never meant to leave you twice," she said. "Once was good enough for me."
Yvonne and Albert's first argument reflects the awkward and unavoidably emotional feelings that arise from seeing an ex for the first time after a break-up. Reed, in a very credible performance, expresses guilt, anger and regret.
