(Photo credit :Joan Marcus)
Anthony Edwards, Susannah Flood, Amy Warren, Meghan
Kennedy, David Cromer, The Counter, Roundabout
Theater Company, Joan Marcus
Anthony Edwards and Susannah Flood are entrancing as two lost souls at a small-town diner in this humane and artfully presented small-scale drama.
“This is still the best part of my day; what if we became
friends?” So asks retiree Paul of waitress Katie at a “way
upstate” New York diner that he comes in for coffee six
mornings a week, and where she has worked for two
years in playwright Meghan Kennedy’s majestically
humane contemporary drama, The Counter.
What happens when a customer and a server’s amiable
circumstantial relationship becomes deeper? For 75
minutes, Ms. Kennedy offers two richly delineated lost
souls out of Lanford Wilson and Terrence McNally, in a
suspenseful plot colored by mundane concerns such as
subscribing to Netflix. The duo converse in Kennedy’s
dialogue peppered with jokes, heartbreak and surprises, as
dark revelations are imparted, sometimes during inner monologues.
Kennedy has crafted a compelling contemporary psychological
character study.
With a bushy gray beard, a shuffling gait, and wearing a
winter coat, Anthony Edwards speaking in his familiar
soft rangy tone, is visually and vocally commanding as
Paul. Mr. Edwards supremely conveys the pathos of a
disaffected loner whose great achievement was rescuing
a family from a burning house. “What was the point?” he
gripes, because two of them died soon after of unrelated
natural causes. The limber, animated and smooth-voiced
Susannah Flood offers a minutely detailed and affective
characterization of Katie. Ms. Flood is absolutely alluring
as this blue-collar worker whose cheeriness masks
complexities. Bubbly Amy Warren’s emits warmth as a
subsidiary doctor known to Paul and Katie, popping in to
provide exposition.
Director David Cromer beautifully orchestrates these
performances while employing high caliber stagecraft to
realize Kennedy’s vision. Walt Spangler’s diner scenic
design is gloriously and drably accurate. Lighting
designer Stacey Derosier vividly connotes the passage of
time, shifting emotional tones and mounting queasiness
through shimmering and varying hues, ranging from
pointed brightness to atmospheric dimness. Sound
designer Christopher Darbassie realizes the incidental
music and outside effects with straightforwardness and
occasional eeriness. Sarah Laux’s present day costume
design is of muted realism.
The Counter theatrically runs the gamut of human
emotions.
The Counter (through November 17, 2024)
Roundabout Theater Company
Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg
Center for Theatre,
111 West 46th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org
Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission
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