Dilaria

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How far would you go to be famous on social media? Julia Randall’s Dilaria is a stunning exposé of Gen Z 20-year-olds, brought up on and addicted to TikTok and Instagram, who spend all their free time on their smart phones trolling the Internet.  Making their Off Broadway debuts, rising stars Ella Stiller, Chiara Aurelia and Christopher Briney play very superficial college grads relocated to New York, but Randall gets a tremendous amount of satire from their interactions. The language is raw and sexy, not for senior citizens, but there is much humor in the way these twenty-somethings use words, particularly the latest urban slang.

Stiller (the daughter of Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor) is given a bravura role as Dilaria, the title character, a rich young woman who is a narcissist and a bully well known for always getting what she wants. Set in her Greenwich Village apartment, after telling her best friend Georgia about a date with her toy boy that went south, the women discover that their former college classmate Becca Schwartz with whom neither of them were friendly has died and tributes are burning up the Internet. Dilaria who always has to be the center of attention, wonders what she has to do to get this kind of attention. She decides that they should both attend the funeral although they really didn’t know the deceased. This eventually leads to shocking events as Dilaria attempts to steal the limelight.

We see her with both her best friend and her current boyfriend Noah (pronounced “No – ah” the Norwegian way). And although she is the life of the party, it is hard to see how Dilaria keeps any friends both male or female as she treats them with contempt and disdain, criticizing them, belittling them, insulting them – plus making excessive demands. In her behavior with other people, she is a sociopath that people put up with though they are aware of what is happening. These may not be nice people but they are fun company to be around.

Playwright Randall has a terrific ear for current speech. Told in eight scenes, Randall’s play has dialogue that is funny, snappy and smart – sarcastic, coarse verging on the obscene, caustic, cynical. It is a portrait of where Gen Z is now. Her characterizations are fully developed and complete. We know a great deal about these people from what they say. Alex Keegan’s direction gets the maximum out of her actors.

Making their Off Broadway debuts, the three actors are rising stars with impressive recent credits: Stiller (a member of the third season cast of And Just Like That and the yet unreleased Happy Gilmore 2) is totally subsumed in her role of mean girl Dilaria. She devours the stage as well as all of her friends. She is both monstrous and sympathetic as a damaged person who cannot be trusted for a minute. You will not be able to take your eyes off of her riveting and physical performance for a moment.

Aurelia (best known for her award-winning performances in Cruel Summer, Luckiest Girl Alive and Gerald’s Game) is excellent as the sidekick Georgia who gives as good as she gets. Demonstrating self-awareness in her role as Dilaria’s doormat, she eventually turns and lets Dilaria know she is on to her. Briney (star of Amazon’s hit series The Summer I Turned Pretty and the movie musical Mean Girls) as the seemingly dim-witted Noah turns out to have much more going for him than is initially evident. We eventually see that he is as browbeaten by Dilaria as Georgia is.

Frank J. Oliva’s attractive setting depicts Dilaria’s bedroom with its white brick walls and pink/red accents. The walls and bureau are covered with Cat Raynor’s props which delineate Dilaria’s life up until now. Lily Cunicelli’s costumes are spot-on putting Dilaria initially in black and Georgia initially in white, giving us a bad girl/good girl vibe. The outfits that they wear to the funeral are hilarious – black evening wear, totally unsuitable for a funeral. Paige Seber’s subtle lighting design makes use of the indirect light from the two windows and the various fixtures around the room including a light sculpture that resembles a broken heart.

Not only is Dilaria very entertaining, eventually becoming a kind of thriller, but it offers a chance to see three new exciting actors at the start of their careers. We should be seeing a lot more of Ella Stiller, Chiara Aurelia and Christopher Briney. And much more should be expected of playwright Julia Randall who made this evening possible. Let us not forget director Alex Keegan’s fine work making what in the wrong hands would have been a very talky play but here moves with well-oiled speed.

Dilaria (extended through August 8, 2025)

DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212-375-1110 or visit http://www.Dilaria.com

Running time: 100 minutes without an intermission