At The Table by Michael Perlman

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 7/9/17 at 7:58am

Last night I saw a terrific production of Michael Perlman's At The Table. 

The set up: Four friends meet for dinners to debate politics and haze each others dates. Two members, a white gay man and a straight black woman, start to feel alienated from the group. The straight white people at the table try to sympathize but resent being shamed. 

I was expecting the sort of "liberals are shallow" play that Bruce Norris and Yasmina Reza write. Perlman and the cast give the roles enough warmth and specificity for it to turn into something more interesting. The actors clearly love working together and the Chicago production has been a sold out hit.

I looked up reviews of the Off-Broadway production at Fault Line Theater. The New York Times critic, Laura Collins-Hughes, ignores the play and spends four paragraphs complaining about her seat. The comments are full of fans of the work who find her review bizarre.

Did anyone here see the New York production? Did it make an impression?

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/theater/review-in-at-the-table-a-menu-of-identity-based-arguments.html