By: Darryl Reilly
“This is still the best part of my day; what if we became friends?” So, asks retiree Paul of waitress Katie at a “Way upstate” New York diner that he comes in for coffee six mornings a week, and where she has worked for two years in playwright Meghan Kennedy’s majestically humane contemporary drama, The Counter. What happens when a customer and a server’s amiable circumstantial relationship becomes deeper? For 75 minutes, Ms. Kennedy offers two richly delineated lost souls out of Lanford Wilson and Terrence McNally, in a suspenseful plot colored by mundane concerns such as subscribing to Netflix. The duo converse in Kennedy’s fulsome dialogue which is peppered with jokes, heartbreak and surprises, as dark revelations are imparted, sometimes during inner monologues. Kennedy has crafted a compelling contemporary psychological character study.
With a bushy gray beard, a shuffling gait, and wearing a winter coat, Anthony Edwards speaking in his familiar soft rangy tone, is visually and vocally commanding as Paul. Mr. Edwards supremely conveys the pathos of a disaffected loner whose great achievement was rescuing a family from a burning house; “What was the point?” he gripes, because two of them died soon after of unrelated natural causes. The limber, animated and smooth-voiced Susannah Flood offers a minutely detailed and affective characterization of Katie. Ms. Flood is absolutely alluring as this blue-collar worker whose cheeriness masks complexities. Bubbly Amy Warren emits warmth as a subsidiary doctor known to Paul and Katie, popping in to provide exposition.
Director David Cromer beautifully orchestrates these performances while employing high caliber stagecraft to realize Kennedy’s vision. Walt Spangler’s diner scenic design is gloriously and drably accurate. Lighting designer Stacey Derosier vividly connotes the passage of time, shifting emotional tones and mounting queasiness through shimmering and varying hues, ranging from pointed brightness to atmospheric dimness. Sound designer Christopher Darbassie realizes the incidental music and outside effects with straightforwardness and occasional eeriness. Sarah Laux’s present day costume design is of muted realism.
The Counter theatrically runs the gamut of human emotions.
The Counter (through November 17, 2024)
Roundabout Theater Company
Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.roundabouttheatre.org
Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission