| . | 04/14/2008
THE FOUR OF US
By: Eugene Paul
Photo by Joan Marcus
In a wonderfully clever, appealingly resourceful gift of a design, David Zinn has designed a setting which has the happy faculty of making his actors and his director seem as brilliant as he is. What we see at the outset is four doors. Okay…. Then…what? Two of them open and two young men come through and briskly open the other two doors. Bingo. We are in a book lined room. And the magic doors perform their magic throughout the play. Changing settings at a flick of a door. Marvelously ingenious. Makes you want to sing that old college song, “Glorious, glorious, one keg of beer for the four of us…” and that might put you in the mood for meeting Benjamin, nerdish, slightly uptight, aura of grind all but palpable, and his bud – they go way back – David, loosey goosey, merry, got his angst all covered up with lots of joe college shtick even though they are both some years past that. Nevertheless, these two are The Four of Us. And, indeed, they are. Maybe more, though Benjamin remains very much his own person as does David.
They are meeting at a posh restaurant and David is picking up the check. He has finally got a production of his play set. In Indiana, but hey, it’s going to be on a real stage with real actors. That’s why he hasn’t answered any of Benjamin’s calls or e-mails for weeks and weeks and this is a way of making up for that. And, by the way, old Benjy, how’s your book going, finished yet? Finished. Great! Sold. Really? Neat. How much you getting? Er… It’s okay, you can tell me…Er..$2,000,000.
And David cannot conceal his shock, surprise, joy, happiness for Benjamin. And maybe a tad of envy. Maybe. David cannot stop himself from asking if – yes, there’s a movie in the offing. And Benjamin has to meet with – wow. And David cannot help but pump for details and smile harder with all the details that come out. And Benjamin feels his friend’s heavy good nature getting heavier and offers him the chance to write the screen play because what does he know about screen plays and being a playwright is surely lots closer to writing a screen play than book writing stuff.
Things get very complex when Benjamin has to do two years of book tours. And David has to write a screen play that the star thinks he can improve and all the while working on his own play. David and Benjamin find themselves from time to time in the same city. Their goals are not quite in sync. David is still boinking girls and Benjamin wants to hear details but has none of his own to supply since he thinks boinking is counterproductive, to coin a phrase. The friendship which began years ago in summer camp and lasted all these years does not seem flexible enough to contain both their emotional states. As events prove.
Gideon Banner as Benjamin and Michael Esper as David give simply crackerjack performances as the two friends whose dreams have come true but are not able to cope with all that that really means. Playwright Itamar Moses should be thrilled to pieces with the reading the two actors have found for their journey through his play. In the hands of such beautifully talented people, under Pam MacKinnon’s absolutely expert direction, The Four of Us presents one of the most satisfying theatrical evenings in many a moon. And thank you, David Zinn, for the magic doors.
New York City Center, Stage II, 131 West 55th Street.
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