Serenading Louie

Synopsis

In Serenading Louie two young, successful and seemingly happy couples are trying to deal with the shadows that haunt their marriages. Carl and Mary are college sweethearts (the football star marries the homecoming queen). Mary is having an affair with Carl's colleague. Carl is desperately trying to convince himself he doesn't care. Meanwhile, Carl's best friend Alex has tired of his chatty and insecure wife, Gabrielle, and has fallen for a 17-year-old college student. When both couples are forced to face the truth about their marriages, their lives are tragically changed forever. In a scorching comment on crumbling American dreams. Lanford Wilson's powerful drama charts the destruction of two young couples as they face up to the deception and infidelity of their friendship.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 17 February 2010

Oh no, surely not another bunch of 30-somethings going to pieces in the dissolution of dreams market? Yes. But Lanford Wilson’s 1970 Off-Broadway play (re-written for the Circle Rep in 1976) proves a real corker.

And it’s given a tremendously taut and enthralling production by Simon Curtis, the former Royal Court director (notably of Jim Cartwright’s Road), returning to the stage after a long and distinguished stint in television (Cranford and Stephen Poliakoff films).

Two Chicago couples cross-fade into each others’ lives on the same utilitarian sitting room set of sofa, standard lamp, drinks cabinet, French windows and Balinese puppet on the wall. Director Curtis and designer Peter McKintosh, artfully abetted by Guy Hoare’s lighting and Adam Cork’s soundtrack, make the intersections both graceful and plausible.

The acting is stylish and magnificent from a cast you’re not quite sure who they are: visiting American actor Jason Butler Harner is su...

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Latest User Review

LDE - 19 March 2010:

I'm very surprised to see such harsh reviews. I greatly enjoyed the play, if 'enjoy' is the right word for such a bleak piece of drama. All the performances were excellent, and I loved the set. The play was reminiscent of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' though I felt it lacked Woolf's underlying warmth and was almost relentlessly nihilistic. I think it could have benefited from more humour to relieve some of the longer exchanges. But overall I found it moving and thought-provoking. Admittedly it's not in the same classic league as Woolf, but that's a big ask, isn't it?...

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