The season at Bay Street Theater continues when “Dinner,” written by Moira Buffini, directed by David Esbjornson and starring Mercedes Ruehl, opens next Tuesday. It’s the American premiere of the British playwright’s dark comedy that debuted nearly seven years ago in London.
Esbjornson didn’t want to play the comparison game with “Dinner.” He said one thing he has noticed throughout his career is that contemporary writers all have a unique voice. But when pressed he used the term “Albee-esque” to describe Buffini’s work.
“It’s similar in that there are strong women characters and a kind of dark edgy humor that Albee is known for,” said Esbjornson.
Perhaps Albee’s strongest, most well-known female character appears in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which Esbjornson staged for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 2005 and that starred Ruehl as Martha. He also directed Ruehl in another Albee play, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, which made its world premiere on Broadway and garnered a Tony award in 2003 for Best Play.
Esbjornson’s chemistry with Ruehl is why he’s spending part of his summer in the East End. He said he got the call to direct “Dinner” once it was decided Ruehl would be the star.
“I’m very happy to be back in the rehearsal room with [Mercedes],” said Esbjornson. “It’s been four years. [‘Dinner’] is a wonderful play and she’s going to be marvelous in the role. It’s really an ensemble piece but it’s clear there is an emphasis on her role.”
Ruehl plays Paige, the hostess for the evening who has decided to throw a celebratory dinner party for her author husband Lars, played by Bay Street veteran Daniel Gerroll. The audience will quickly come to realize this is not your typical dinner party and the niceties associated with friends coming together to break bread are thrown out the window and replaced by a no holds barred dialogue between the characters. The tenor of the table conversation is foreshadowed by the menu. Paige serves up “primordial soup” followed by “apocalypse of lobsters” and finally “frozen waste.”
And though the symbolism of the dinner table should not be overlooked, it is the characters themselves and their opinions rather than the situation they’re in, that drives the action. Character driven comedy as opposed to situational comedy is an aspect of the play that Esbjornson said is central to British humor.
“They’re very good at creating characterizations and their sense of the social and political environment,” he said. “They’re interested in issues of class. And the social issues that live inside of the characterizations come out in surprising ways.”
The evening’s guests include Paige and Lars, as well as a scientist, a “sexpot,” an artist and finally, an “uninvited” guest who quickly changes the tone of the conversation. What appears on the surface as a playful excuse to get together, enjoy some food and chat about current events, ultimately turns into a battle royal of ideologies. Toxic comments are thrown back and forth which make the guests and, depending on its sensibilities, the audience, feel more than a little uncomfortable. And behind it all is Ruehl’s character Paige, whose motive as instigator of the dinner party from hell becomes crystal clear.
“Without giving away the [ending], Moira has created a very, very smart play,” said Esbjornson. “The characters are extremely articulate and funny and nuanced and contradictory – all the stuff that makes for very entertaining, good theater. The comedy has an edge to it and the evening itself is very edgy.”
Esbjornson said Buffini teases the audience with genre and plays with their expectations, which he said is exactly why the play is so enjoyable. When all is said and done he hopes the audience will be “surprised, intrigued, challenged and entertained.”
As far as the bigger picture or the deeper meaning behind the play, Esbjornson was hard pressed to elaborate.
“After a week and a half of rehearsal, I’m not at the point of being able to define it,” he said. “All I know is I like it.”
“Dinner” runs July 7 to August 2, Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m., Wednesday matinee at 2 p.m. and Saturday matinee at 4 p.m. Bay Street Theatre is located on Long Wharf, Sag Harbor. Tickets are $55/$65. Call 725-9500 to reserve.
Above: Mercedes Ruehl
