Biko Eisen-Martin, Gail Bean and Michael Rishawn (Photo by Jeff Lorch)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse
Through Dec. 7
Table 17, now at the Geffen’s Gil Cates Theater, seems a slight offering to warrant such a lavish main stage production.
Not that Douglas Lyons’s play isn’t a crowd pleaser. A comical pre-show announcement encourages attendees to freely and vocally express their reactions to the unfolding events. In a sort of modified call and response, the audience enthusiastically complies — cheering, booing, and calling out randomly as the occasion warrants.
It’s a novel and amusing conceit that can be fun. But the novelty doesn’t compensate for the stale story, a retread from the Hallmark playbook.
Once engaged to be married, Jada (Gail Bean) and Dallas (Biko Eisen-Martin) are meeting again for the first time since their breakup two years ago. In flashback, we see the couple’s “meet cute” first encounter, delve into their domestic lives, and view the increasing dissatisfaction and betrayals that led to their split. Both Jada and Dallas are guilty of questionable conduct—behavior that prompts the audience to shout out their support or disapproval, depending on whether you are for (as the press materials suggest) “Team Jada” or “Team Dallas.” Our protagonists may still be very much in love, but can they overcome the past and replicate their romance, this time on a more solid foundation?
First produced off-Broadway at MCC Theater, this West Coast premiere has been directed by Zhailon Levingston, who staged the New York production. Eisen-Martin is a holdover from the original cast, as is Michael Rishawn, a scene stealer who alternately plays Dallas’s romantic rival and a gay waiter who launches high camp into the stratosphere.
The strongest design element is Ben Stanton’s award-worthy lighting. However, Jason Sherwood’s restaurant design, while striking, places a small number of audience members at café tables alongside the actors, blurring the boundary between observers and participants — particularly confusing when it comes to the chronology of the flashback scenes. When the locales shift from the restaurant, the presence of the onstage “diners” seems misplaced.
Levingston’s lively staging hits some snags along the way, most notably in newcomer-to-the-cast Bean, whose faulty enunciation sometimes makes her difficult to understand. She seemed in a rush on opening night — perhaps a tiny pause for laughs might help.
And granted, Rishawn has impressively perfect abs, but why, in one scene, is he wearing an open shirt with his six-pack visibly oiled? It’s a meretricious visual that comes at the expense of the character and indicates deeper problems with the staging, which too often panders for laughs.
Lyons has spoken about revitalizing the romantic comedy genre through a Black lens — an admirable intention. Unfortunately, the lighter-than-air effervescence of Table 17 cloys into cliché.
Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., L.A. Wed.-Thur., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 and 7 p.m., thru Dec. 7. No performance Nov. 27. (310) 208-2028. www.geffenplayhouse.org 90 minutes, no intermission.
