Tag Archives: Moi Tran

DEALER’S CHOICE

★★★

Donmar Warehouse

DEALER’S CHOICE

Donmar Warehouse

★★★

“The cast is uniformly strong, bringing definition to Marber’s testosterone-fuelled ensemble”

Three decades after its debut, Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice returns to the London stage in a muscular revival at the Donmar Warehouse. Mostly set in the sweaty basement of a mediocre restaurant, this brutal portrait of male compulsions and laddish bravado still cuts deep, even as it reminds us just how entrenched and ugly blokey culture was in the mid-90s.

Written before Marber’s later success with Closer, Dealer’s Choice remains arguably his most vivid piece in a canon of hits: a searing, funny, and ultimately hollow study of men addicted not just to gambling, but to delusion.

Director Matthew Dunster’s production taps into the play’s timelessness, capturing the dreams, denials, and desperate self-mythologising that haven’t changed much even as mobile phones have turned from bricks to razor blades.

The cast is uniformly strong, bringing definition to Marber’s testosterone-fuelled ensemble. Daniel Lapaine is chillingly precise as Stephen, the restaurant owner whose demand for control barely masks his own compulsions. His bullying interactions with his son Carl – played with a raw sadness by Kasper Hilton-Hille – form the play’s anguished emotional core, even if their conflict at times feels contrived.

Alfie Allen flutters about as pallid Frankie, the wide-boy waiter whose cocky swagger only thinly veils a deeper frustration. He captures the double purpose of the bantz – as weapon and shield. Theo Barklem-Biggs, meanwhile, is the most impressive of the lot, bringing tightly wound fury to Sweeney, the chef desperate to save face – and some money – for a day out with his daughter.

The late arrival of Brendan Coyle’s Ash, a taciturn force with his own dark motives, shifts the game’s stakes dramatically. Coyle’s performance is an embodiment of seething menace: his mere presence alters the dynamic, exposing the men’s bravado for the fragile veneer it is.

But it is Hammed Animashaun’s turn as Mugsy that lingers longest. Mugsy, the hapless, endlessly optimistic dreamer who hopes to open a restaurant in a disused public lavatory in Bow – not inconceivable these days – is the heart of the play. Animashaun, a blissfully funny actor, manages to balance clownish exuberance with bruised humanity, making Mugsy’s pipe dreams oddly touching. He alone seems fully rounded in a cast of men who appear only to perform for each other.

Dunster’s production leans into the claustrophobia of the setting, with Moi Tran’s set design ingeniously lifting the restaurant’s kitchen and dining room skywards to reveal the grim basement beneath, the card table rotating throughout so we see every face. Some knowledge of poker helps in the occasionally confusing second act.

If the production occasionally overstates the father-son melodrama, and its feral language is jarring, it never loses sight of Marber’s essential insight: that in this world, the biggest gamble isn’t with money but with self-worth. Dealer’s Choice reminds us that laddish culture, for all its swagger, often masks desperation and loneliness. The red flag of the ’90s has become a fully blown crisis in the intervening decades



DEALER’S CHOICE

Donmar Warehouse

Reviewed on 29th April 2025

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Helen Murray

 

 


 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BACKSTROKE | ★★★ | February 2025
NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 | ★★★★★ | December 2024
SKELETON CREW | ★★★★ | July 2024
THE HUMAN BODY | ★★★ | February 2024
LOVE AND OTHER ACTS OF VIOLENCE | ★★★★ | October 2021

 

 

DEALER’S CHOICE

DEALER’S CHOICE

DEALER’S CHOICE

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

★★★★

Garrick Theatre

WHY AM I SO SINGLE? at the Garrick Theatre

★★★★

“an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy”

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s ‘Why am I So Single?’ debuts in the West End, following the writers’ extremely successful ‘Six’. This new musical cleverly follows a meta portrayal of the pair exploring the issues of their love life and by proxy their own personal issues. The two best friends – under the pseudonyms ‘Nancy’ and ‘Oliver’ – sit in Oliver’s flat after being given the task of writing their next big fancy musical, and after various discussions of their failed dates decide that’s what the musical should be about. Through the medium of many a big fancy musical number, the conclusion of their failed love lives is far more heart-warming than one would expect.

The show opens with its meta framing of the narrative, with the writers talking to us directly through the characters. They state that all stories in the show are based on true events but with all people given different names. Set designer Moi Tran and costume designer Max Johns deserve so much credit for the way the stage moves from having literal set pieces and then ensemble actors seemingly transition to replace them. This was extremely enjoyable to watch and added a lot of fantastic comedic elements – my favourite being whenever the leads interacted with the human rubbish bin. The whole design of the show makes you feel like you’re at a party throughout – with the lighting (Jai Morjaria) primarily being a mix of pink and purple washes that change in time with the music.

The performances throughout the show are stellar and every single cast member is extremely committed. The ensemble shine throughout in both their musical and comedic performances. A mention has to go to Noah Thomas who plays Artie – an extremely strong performance that showed care and empathy for the leads while also telling them the truth when they need to hear it. One of his numbers is also a fantastic tap routine and a great tap routine is always a pleasure to watch. But, of course, the stars of the show are Jo Foster as Oliver and Leesa Tulley as Nancy. Both are incredibly powerful artists and were a pleasure to watch on stage. Foster particularly shines in the number ‘Disco Ball’, where they really are giving the audience everything and it’s such a privilege to be able to see such beautiful vulnerability on stage. Tulley’s performance also shows off her incredible vocal range and talent, and her solo ‘Lost’ brought many people in the audience to tears.

One of my favourite numbers was ‘Meet Market’ – not only a great song with fantastic routines on stage, but also great commentary on the dehumanising nature of dating apps. There were some songs that I felt weren’t necessary and took focus away from the main plotline. The main one I took issue with was a song about a bee, which seemingly is only in the show for the sake of one word play based joke. Unfortunate because two and a half hours already feels quite long for this show, so when the number played at the end of Act 1, I did begin to get quite restless.

‘Why am I So Single?’ is an incredibly fun, comedic and beautifully heart-warming show that everyone can enjoy. Musical theatre millennial fans will particularly enjoy the many show references and referrals to Friends. And with the West End musical scene sticking with its theme of even more movie musicals, it’s great to see something new and fresh bringing heart and soul into the theatre.


WHY AM I SO SINGLE? at the Garrick Theatre

Reviewed on 10th September 2024

by David Robinson

Photography by Danny Kaan

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF | ★★★ | June 2024
FOR BLACK BOYS … | ★★★★ | March 2024
HAMNET | ★★★ | October 2023
THE CROWN JEWELS | ★★★ | August 2023
ORLANDO | ★★★★ | December 2022
MYRA DUBOIS: DEAD FUNNY | ★★★★ | September 2021

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

WHY AM I SO SINGLE?

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