Reviews: Superior Donuts @ Southwark Playhouse

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!