Superior Donuts
Southwark Playhouse, February 11, 2014
The
quality of the writing and acting last night at the first Preview for Tracy
Lett’s new play certainly lived up to the first half of its name, while the
latter half was available for purchase in the interval.
After
a season of shorter shows at Southwark, this almost three-hour drama was a bit
unexpected halfway through the season, but worth every minute. A deeply
humorous simultaneously touching tale of and the owner of a donut shop and his new
employee. Arthur is the son of two Polish immigrants who opened up a donut shop
in Chicago in 1950, the same year Arthur was born. Arthur is now nearing 60 and
his donut shop isn’t doing too well. After a burglary and the loss of his last
employee, Arthur needs a little help, when Franco comes through his door.
Franco is young blank man in Chicago, taking a break from school to earn a
little bit of money. Franco challenges Arthur, encourages him and gives him a
new outlook not only on his donut shop, but his current path as well.
The
main focus on the show, Mitchell Mullen as Arthur, was almost difficult to
watch for the first ten minutes, so bereft and unfocused. Here is a man who has
obviously fallen apart, after divorce and then the death of his first wife,
along with the death of his parents, Mullen seems to have given up. It is not
until Wicks strolls in that we see the energy brewing underneath the surface,
held back for such a long time. Sharing a number of moments from his past with
us in direct address, Mullen invites us in and shares his powerful story with
heart and honesty, using the intimacy of Southwark Playhouse’s ‘Little’ space
to really connect with each person.
With a near perfect American
accent, Jonathan Livingstone plays the endearing and hilarious Franco Wicks.
Sauntering onstage with his backpack slung over his shoulder, Wicks at first
seems to present the average slacker city-kid, applying to work in donut shop
just to have a little money. Then out of nowhere, suddenly he switches from
laid-back to business conscious and we see a driven, a bright young man with a
lot of ideas in head as he starts spewing out business ideas to Arthur. It
becomes clear very quickly that this is a bright young man in an unfortunate
situation and we can’t help but be taken in by his enthusiasm, charm and perfect
sense of comedic timing.
Also worth mentioning were
Nick Cavaliere as a very Russian, very funny and somewhat strange owner of an
electronics store, Max, and his young friend TJ Nelson who, while perhaps only
appearing in one scene stole the scene as an adorable speechless young Russian.
The entire ensemble was fantastic, from the rough, hockey loving lady cop,
Sarah Ball as Officer Randy Osteen, and her Star-Trek loving partner, Alexander
James Simon to the bookie suffering from a hernia, David Partridge as Luther
Flynn. It was a wonderful production of a fantastic script, and not too
expensive either. For £18, this show is a steal for 2.5 hours of entertainment,
and there are donuts for sale as well, if the subject matter gets your tummy
rumbling!