For a play about a disappointing Friday night at the pub, the Wyndham Theatre Company putting its latest production, After Dinner, on Friday and Saturday nights might seem like a brave move.
But director and WTC member Fiona Scarlett is confident audience members leaving the Crossroads Theatre, where After Dinner is on until July 20, will have had a much more enjoyable evening than the characters depicted in the play.
“It’s definitely very funny and the cast bring a lot of comedy to the role and really good character work,” Scarlett. said.
“The narrative is very simple but the characters are really well developed.”
Those characters include Paula, Monika, Dympie. Stephen and Gordon who all just want have a good night at the pub.
But when the band doesn’t play, the waiters ignore them and people can’t keep their issues to themselves, the farce begins.
Written by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell in 1987, After Dinner features costumes and a soundtrack which will transport audience members back to the Friday night dance floors of almost four decades ago.
Scarlett said this was one of the factors that attracted WTC to the play.
“We were searching around for theatre pieces that had a smallish cast and a simple set and I’d come across this play years and years ago and it just stuck in my mind as a nice snapshot of Australiana,” she said, highlighting Werribee local Katrina Gauci as Dympie and James Hammond as Stephen as performances audience members should look out for.
After Dinner is on at Crossroads Theatre on July19 and 20 at 8pm, with a 2pm matinee on Saturday.
Tickets: www.trybooking.com/CSIKJ
Cade Lucas
