Writer and Director: Maggie N. Razavi
First World Problems are the focus of Counter. Set alongside the VAULT Festival’s other offerings. Maggie N. Razavi’s play about a relationship on the rocks seems very old-fashioned and almost offensively middle-class.
A man sits at a bar counter, presumably the counter of the title, waiting for his fiancé who’s 30 minutes late. When she arrives she blames the District Line but there’s a sense that punctuality isn’t her forte. The couple have been on a break, but it’s not a hiatus that he wanted. He’s angry. And he’s drunk.
He gets drunker. She drinks green tea. They argue in passive aggressive tones before breaking out of their conversation to address the audience directly. He tells us that she only wanted to go out with him, because she craved the stability of his family. She later agrees with that suggestion but she implies that the safety of his perfect family now suffocates her.
His life of rugby and Sunday lunches doesn’t attract her like it used to. She wonders if, instead, she should travel the world or move to Cuba. He’d rather try and patch things up; after all, he spent a lot of money on that diamond engagement ring from Hatton Garden. Neither of them lacks privilege.
As the confessions to the audience continue, it becomes blatantly clear that both the man and woman are unsuited to each other. It seems a pointless exercise to ask the audience if they should stay together. Only the writer raises her hand at this option. If the storyline is to depend on an audience vote then the couple’s relationship needs to be a good deal more nuanced than it is now.
Thankfully, the acting is good and both Rivkah Bunker and Max Norman produce believable, if bland, characters. Norman’s hangdog approach seems the perfect complement to Bunker’s mild kookiness. But it’s difficult to care for either of their characters when the stakes are so low.
Runs until 12 February 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Low stakes
