Table 17 at Kiln Theatre Review

Reviews

30 Sept

Table 17 production images by Steve Gregson.

Table 17 seats you at the restaurant table beside Jada and Dallas, and then, riskily, asks you to join in. Douglas Lyon’s rom-com arrives at the Kiln for its UK premiere as a 90-minute study of an ex-couple’s dinner, and its audience-participation gamble pays off.

The premise is deceptively simple: boy meets girl, again. Former fiancés Jada and Dallas are about to see each other at a new restaurant, two years after their breakup. What, or who, drives that decision, is elusive. Is it to see if there is still a spark? Is it to show the other what they’ve missed out on? As the evening unfolds, the two reminisce over their five-year relationship, transitioning seamlessly between past and present, in a classic ‘there’s two sides to every story.’

And yet, there is nothing trite here, because Table 17 is a fresh take on the messiness of love.

Zhailon Levingston directs a talented cast to create something striking and distinctive. Audience participation (yup, panto has come early) is a bold choice that could have backfired but instead gets everyone invested in the characters and their relationship. We are called to take sides: ‘Ladies?’ ‘Fellows?’ but this is done in moderation, and never in a Jerry Springer fashion.

Unexpected entrances and exits among the audience heighten the intimacy and keep things interesting. Even lines that could sound like platitudes (women expecting men to know what they’re thinking…heard that one before?) are so impeccably timed that the whole house is in stitches.

Marisha Wallace is instantly engaging as Jada, a sassy flight attendant yet unsure of her newly single status. Opposite her, Jamael Westman plays Dallas, an aspiring music producer full of swag but trying to keep his drinking in check. He shines in his physicality and cocky energy as he chats up Jada the first time. Even more notable is the chemistry between them, tender at times, lusty at others, making it impossible not to root for the former lovers, warts and all.

Sashaying between the two is River (Michael Rishawn), the disillusioned gay host despairing at ‘the straights’. River gets to interrupt their conversation at the most inappropriate moments, and to deliver his surprisingly poignant moral of the story at the end. His performance is sensational, full of aplomb and the occasional bout of fragility. Rishawn also plays a memorable bartender and Eric, Jada’s slightly awkward coworker who swoops in as her relationship with Dallas begins to falter. Eric is perhaps the least developed character; he stays enigmatic where we would have liked to know more about him.

Set (Amy Jane Cook, also costume designer) and lighting (Matt Haskins) work well together to create a sense of occasion and to draw the audience in. A revolving banquette provides multiple perspectives, just like the script does, and is used creatively throughout. Costumes, plenty of them and deployed in quick succession, add glitz and glamour as well as characterisation. The music (designed by George Dennis), mostly 90s R&B with some soul evergreens, adds a catchy soundtrack to these well-meaning, playful lovers.

Rom-coms can easily descend into frivolous territory, but this one absolutely does not. There is enough heartache, enough vulnerability to root the story and give wings to its riotous humour. The missed opportunities and the assumptions that erode trust are all here, but they are balanced so that the levity never feels cheap.

The story is both specific and universal: two apparently ordinary people creating something extraordinary between them. Jada and Dallas’ relationship was a table for two. But for ninety joyous minutes, we also got to be there.

Table 17 plays at Kiln Theatre until 24 October.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★