Soulpepper & Obsidian Theatre Company/Table for Two, written by Akosua Amo-Adem, directed by Djanet Sears, Young Centre for the Performing Arts, closes Mar. 2. Tickets here.
Simply put, the world premiere of Table for Two is one of the best productions of the season.
At the centre of this wonderful new play is the blazing talent of Akosua Amo-Adem, who is both writer and lead actor.
Background
Amo-Adem tells us in her program notes that the play grew out of a theatre assignment when she was one of the promising young artists at the Soulpepper Academy a decade ago. Now she is back in triumph at the very place where her career began.
The instructor was the late great man of theatre, Daniel Brooks, and at the time, the Academy members were working on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Brooks’ challenge to the class was to write and perform a piece about waiting that was either highly political or highly entertaining.
Amo-Adem chose entertaining, and 17 drafts later, that monologue grew up to become Table for Two. Brooks would be beaming.
The Play and the Plotline
Highly entertaining doesn’t begin to describe the play because it is much more than that. Table for Two is both funny and poignant, tender and provocative, emotional and dispassionate, all at the same time.
Amo-Adem is Abby, a successful 35-year-old who owns her own condo and can afford designer clothes. To her Ghanaian mother (Bola Aiyeola), however, Abby is a failure because she is unmarried and childless. This play should strike a chord with anyone who has an ethnic mother be they Black, Jewish, Italian, Chinese, or whatever. Mothers are all the same.
Abby’s friend Janelle (Meghan Swaby) is very happy as a swinging single, but Abby is hesitant about embracing that lifestyle. Instead, she embarks on the tortuous journey of online dating, searching for Mr. Right, and it is these hilarious and not so hilarious encounters that make up much of the play. Ryan Allen performs all the bad dates and the other men in Abby’s life.
The play, with its clever title, is structured around Abby narrating the events, and her wry commentary contributes to the frothy veneer of Table for Two. Even at serious moments, Abby never loses her sense of irony.
The play, however, is not all fun and games, because beneath the surface is a very serious look at relationships, the woman/man dynamic, the need to be in a twosome, and how all this impacts on personal identity. Even when Abby does meet Mr. Right, things are not perfect.
I should add that I have deliberately not described the various online dating adventures because I don’t want to spoil things for the audience. I will however reveal that the play has one of the funniest opening scenes in theatrical history.
Suffice it to say, Table for Two is a raw, honest and truthful look at societal pressure on singlehood. As Amo-Adem says in her notes, the play is her love letter to what she calls the perpetually single woman.
The Production
The play is directed by veteran Djanet Sears who really knows how to move her talented cast around the stage. The play is made up of a series of short scenes, and Sears has ensured that the flow between them is seamless. She is aided by the clever set pieces of veteran designer Astrid Janson. Janson also did the costumes which are nothing short of brilliant in portraying character, particularly for Abby.
When experienced veterans are called upon to exercise their considerable skills, it really shows.
Nick Blais deserves all kinds of kudos for his intricate lighting that carefully pinpoints the actors. Similarly, Maddie Bautista’s well-defined sound design provides clever effects for situations both big and small.
In short, the production works on every level due to the sincere performances of the actors, the well-thought-out theatrical values, and most of all, Amo-Adem’s inspired writing and the freshness and vibrancy of the play itself.
Table for Two is a not-to-be-missed exhilarating experience.
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