Theatre review: Dealer's Choice

Dealer's Choice is a play I've got a bit of history with: I saw the original 1995 production at what was then called the Cottesloe at the National, and was so impressed with it that I chose one of its scenes to workshop as part of my university directing course. I also caught the Menier's 2007 revival, and that clearly made an impact too, as it turns out my memory of who originally played the characters was a mix of those two casts. So it was hard to resist Matthew Dunster's 30th anniversary production at the Donald and Margot Warehouse, now coming to it as a play I'm in many ways very familiar with, but at the same time haven't encountered in 18 years. Patrick Marber's debut play takes place in a small, barely-afloat restaurant owned and run by Stephen (Daniel Lapaine,) with the help of an all-male skeleton staff who join him every Sunday night after closing for their weekly poker game.

Theatre review: The Spoils

A couple of cases of third time lucky at Trafalgar Studio 1 at the moment: After the vanity projects from Zach Braff and Matthew Perry, a third US star comes to London to write and star in his own play - but actually seems to be doing so on merit this time; and with the Stark family heir and bastard acquitting themselves poorly at theatres just up the road, it's left to the adopted son of that Game of Thrones clan to give a decent stage performance. This time the American actor/playwright is Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Ben in The Spoils. Among the character types that appear frequently in American plays and films is a - usually well-off - New Yorker whose neuroses manifest themselves in a bitterly sarcastic misanthropy and self-destructive streak. Ben is that character turned up to eleven.