Together

A dinner party with dysfunctional friends is a well-worn theme and starheART Theatre’s original play Together packs in a lot of issues amongst the characters’ considerable flaws. Whilst everyone is a friend of the host, Brian (Thomas Tessema), not everyone knows each other at the outset.

And even though the others have been friends for a long time, they don’t seem to know each other very well, with revelations coming fast throughout the dinner – there is plenty of preconception and prejudice challenged throughout the evening, which frequently escalates quickly around the busy set.

The conflict is most effective when all six friends are involved, though the inebriated Winston (Tom Tassone) remains the most convincing throughout the single scene drama, with the other newcomer to the friendship group, Jordan (Ashlea Sander), being the ‘glue’ between the issues and their owners. There is also an unseen conflict offstage, with the neighbours arguing loudly and violently (this cleverly begins at the theatre bar with the audience arriving), and this acts as a more extreme extension of what’s happening around the dinner table.

There are some fascinating explorations of childhood trauma, domestic violence, attitudes to sexuality, and the pivot from student to ‘responsible’ adult, but the challenge of squeezing so much into sixty minutes is ensuring you can do more than scratch the surface. That’s not always successful here; it’s good to be left wanting more, but I would have liked even a few of the loose ends to be resolved by the time the stage lights are cut.

Mark Wickett

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