“an amuse-bouche of eccentric characters and a soupçon of sheer preposterousness… expect a thoroughly entertaining, albeit bizarre, evening”
With performances being presented more frequently in unconventional spaces (later this week we see ‘Drinks’ taking place in an empty Victorian terraced house in Peckham), it didn’t seem too unusual to be invited to Latvian House (part Latvian cultural centre, part hotel in need of a visit from Alex Polizzi), a once grand early Victorian property located in leafy Bayswater, to attend a ‘Dinner at the Smiths’.
For all intents and purposes, we are guests at the dinner party of Mr & Mrs Smith. We are led to the dining room by the somewhat gushing butler (Jorge Laguardia), our coats are taken and we are seated around a long dining table. We are given our ‘menu’ (which is actually a clever little programme of sorts), and are taken through some etiquette by the butler and the maid (Sharlit Deyzac).
We then meet our hosts, Mr Smith (Sean Rees) at one end of the table and Mrs Smith (Lucy Russell) at the distant other end. Mr Smith is hidden behind his ‘English’ newspaper (we are enlightened by the staff as to how terribly ‘English’ everything is), whilst his wife talks at him. Once Mr Smith engages his wife, their conversation soon becomes a bizarre tongue twister dialogue involving commercial travellers and their relatives. Welcome to one unconventional evening.
Carriages arrive quite early at this dinner party (i.e. the performance is fairly short), so I won’t give away too much detail about what happens as this would spoil the surprises and enjoyment. And there are plenty of surprises, one perhaps hinted at when you’re met with no food on your plate, but an eye mask …
A lot of the rather clever comic dialogue depends on truisms; the hosts and guests relaying something so blindingly obvious in a way that it seems surprising. This is very much in the style of Ionesco (around whose words and works the evening is based). Indeed it’s reported that this style of his work came from the manner in which he learnt English, in a course that featured a … ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ …
Well acted throughout, especially the delightfully silly extended conversation between the dinner party guests, Mr & Mrs Martin (David Mildon and Edith Vernes), where they finally realise they know each other as they are married and share the same bed.
From an absurdist playwright source, you’d expect the absurd and with ‘Dinner at the Smiths’ you certainly get it! Expect a good helping of witty French dialogue (translated in a manner as to be part of the play), an amuse-bouche of eccentric characters and a soupçon of sheer preposterousness.
Above all, expect a thoroughly entertaining, albeit bizarre, evening.
