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Something’s cooking at Dunedin’s Globe Theatre this month, with The Dinner Party set to serve up the laughs.
The Globe Theatre stage will be transformed into the private dining room of an exclusive Parisian restaurant for playwright Neil Simon’s comedy, in which six apparent strangers are invited to a dinner party they will never forget.
The Dinner Party will be staged from next Thursday, August 20, until Sunday, August 30, with most performances at 7.30pm, and Sunday matinees at 4pm.
As the guests arrive, all is not as it seems.
Introductions are made, the champagne flows, and a main course of comic, farcical mystery is served, with generous helpings of sharp wit, bold personalities and chaos.
For dessert, The Dinner Party has confessions, brutal truths and marital secrets.
First-time Globe director Matt Brennan said the story of The Dinner Party was universal, with relationships everyone would recognise.
“Each character reflects on the decisions they have made and why they have been invited to a dinner where the truth is often hard to swallow,” Brennan said.
“The Dinner Party does something truly special.
“It starts with high-stakes comedic confusion and transitions into something incredibly heartfelt and real.”
Brennan has assembled a cast of experienced local performers to embody The Dinner Party diners, including Warren Chambers, Steve Parker, Sonja Reid, Laura Wells and Don and Sheena Townsend.
The Townsends will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary during the show’s season, and their son Kieran will be part of the stage crew.
Adding to the ambience of the production, stage manager and Otago Polytechnic Bachelor of Culinary Arts student Emily Gilbert will draw on her knowledge of food and flavour to create delicious scents that will waft through the auditorium.