Six Degrees of Separation

Synopsis

Based on a true story contains male nudity. Paul, a streetwise young black man charms his way into the home of the Kittredges, a wealthy white New York couple. They are art dealers, on the verge of clinching a fortune. He is a college friend of their children, and the son of Sidney Poitier. Is he? Are they? They give him shelter, money and friendship. In exchange he changes their lives. Acid wit, sharp observation and designer cool combine to create an hilariously funny and often shocking great late 20th century mystery.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 20 January 2010

A young black man claiming to be the son of Sidney Poitier inveigles himself into the apartment of a Manhattan art dealer and his wife offering them bit parts in the film of Cats (cue superior laughter in the Old Vic stalls) which his father is preparing to make…

While now seeming ever so slightly passé, Six Degrees of Separation, John Guare’s brilliant play of the early 1990s – what happened to that animation film of Cats by the way; wasn’t Tom Stoppard scripting it? – still whisks you into a maelstrom of snobbery, racism, art as a commodity, rebellion among the offspring and social satire.

The double-sided Kandinsky still hovers above, but Jonathan Fensom’s sleek apartment design now creates a wall-to-wall Mark Rothko deep purple cocoon that is punctured with changes of location and general upset. This play was so New York with the great Stockard Channing in the Lincoln Center, at the Royal Court (in 1992, opposite [Adrian ...

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Latest User Review

rds - 4 April 2010:

I agree with most of the disappointed reviews here. I saw a matinee of A Little Dog Laughed on the same day and that was terrific, led by the wonderful Tamsin Greig, but 6 Degrees was such a huge let down. It all looked so gloomy from the front of the dress circle and it sounded muffled from there too. I fell asleep and I NEVER do that! Luckily I awoke to see the cock, which was the most exciting moment in an otherwise altogether dull evening...no wonder it was put in! If there had been an interval I would have left. Walking to get the tube I overheard a man say to his wife "but what was it all about". I have to agree with that. I haven't a problem if it's to the program I refer to help understand a play, that's why I am so enthusiastic about our tradition of programs with content and not the New York Playbills which tell one nothing except who is in the cast, so if I can bring myself to read the program I may well have a different point of view...but don't hold your breath!...

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