Rating: 
Summary: Amazing Psychological Portrait of Middle Age & Divorce
Review: "Dinner with Friends" follows two couples as one goes through a divorce. It is strikingly psychological and characters are very real. No definite "answer" is presented, leaving you torn between the diverging paths that each couple has taken. It is very gripping and thought provoking, especially the discussions about whether one should try to regain one's youth or stick to the path they have chosen. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Real people, real issues, and hard questions.
Review: Donald Margulies' "Dinner with Friends" received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, a well-deserved award. The play deals with two couples who have been close for a long time, but now one couple is going through a divorce. Throughout the play, relationships are questioned and reorganized. The still-married couple find themselves assessing the strength of their own relationship and mourning the little corner of their world which dies when their friends divorce.
"Dinner with Friends" is a rare gem--a questing, moral play that takes an honest look at the issues of commitment and fidelity in today's world. I don't think I've seen a new play which delved so deep and true into the heart of an everyday issue, and with everyday characters, since David Mamet's "Oleanna." The last two scenes bare the relationships and souls of the characters so fully (and, thankfully, without overt hysterics) that I literally got the chills.
In scene three of the second act Gabe meets his friend Tom a few months after Tom and his wife have split. Tom is living with his travel agent girlfriend, and Gabe quickly tires of Tom's rationalizations and his descriptions of the fantasy life he has constructed around himself. Tom talks fanatically about his newfound freedom, and Gabe tells him he's starting to sound "like a Moonie." Gabe finally voices the essential problem he has with Tom's decision to leave his family. Gabe says, "The key to civilization, I think, is fighting the impulse to chuck it all." Then Tom tries to tell Gabe that maybe Gabe's own marriage isn't all that it appears to be; Tom has heard Gabe complain in the past, and Tom says that he knows the signs of trouble. The difference between the two men, however, is that Gabe believes in working at his marriage and cannot imagine ever giving up. "You don't get it," Gabe says. "I _cling_ to Karen; I _cling_ to her. Imagining a life without her doesn't excite me, it just makes me anxious."
Rating:
Summary: Real people, real issues, and hard questions.
Review: Donald Margulies' "Dinner with Friends" received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, a well-deserved award. The play deals with two couples who have been close for a long time, but now one couple is going through a divorce. Throughout the play, relationships are questioned and reorganized. The still-married couple find themselves assessing the strength of their own relationship and mourning the little corner of their world which dies when their friends divorce.
"Dinner with Friends" is a rare gem--a questing, moral play that takes an honest look at the issues of commitment and fidelity in today's world. I don't think I've seen a new play which delved so deep and true into the heart of an everyday issue, and with everyday characters, since David Mamet's "Oleanna." The last two scenes bare the relationships and souls of the characters so fully (and, thankfully, without overt hysterics) that I literally got the chills.
In scene three of the second act Gabe meets his friend Tom a few months after Tom and his wife have split. Tom is living with his travel agent girlfriend, and Gabe quickly tires of Tom's rationalizations and his descriptions of the fantasy life he has constructed around himself. Tom talks fanatically about his newfound freedom, and Gabe tells him he's starting to sound "like a Moonie." Gabe finally voices the essential problem he has with Tom's decision to leave his family. Gabe says, "The key to civilization, I think, is fighting the impulse to chuck it all." Then Tom tries to tell Gabe that maybe Gabe's own marriage isn't all that it appears to be; Tom has heard Gabe complain in the past, and Tom says that he knows the signs of trouble. The difference between the two men, however, is that Gabe believes in working at his marriage and cannot imagine ever giving up. "You don't get it," Gabe says. "I _cling_ to Karen; I _cling_ to her. Imagining a life without her doesn't excite me, it just makes me anxious."
Rating:
Summary: Real people, real issues, and hard questions.
Review: Donald Margulies' "Dinner with Friends" received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, a well-deserved award. The play deals with two couples who have been close for a long time, but now one couple is going through a divorce. Throughout the play, relationships are questioned and reorganized. The still-married couple find themselves assessing the strength of their own relationship and mourning the little corner of their world which dies when their friends divorce.
"Dinner with Friends" is a rare gem--a questing, moral play that takes an honest look at the issues of commitment and fidelity in today's world. I don't think I've seen a new play which delved so deep and true into the heart of an everyday issue, and with everyday characters, since David Mamet's "Oleanna." The last two scenes bare the relationships and souls of the characters so fully (and, thankfully, without overt hysterics) that I literally got the chills.
In scene three of the second act Gabe meets his friend Tom a few months after Tom and his wife have split. Tom is living with his travel agent girlfriend, and Gabe quickly tires of Tom's rationalizations and his descriptions of the fantasy life he has constructed around himself. Tom talks fanatically about his newfound freedom, and Gabe tells him he's starting to sound "like a Moonie." Gabe finally voices the essential problem he has with Tom's decision to leave his family. Gabe says, "The key to civilization, I think, is fighting the impulse to chuck it all." Then Tom tries to tell Gabe that maybe Gabe's own marriage isn't all that it appears to be; Tom has heard Gabe complain in the past, and Tom says that he knows the signs of trouble. The difference between the two men, however, is that Gabe believes in working at his marriage and cannot imagine ever giving up. "You don't get it," Gabe says. "I _cling_ to Karen; I _cling_ to her. Imagining a life without her doesn't excite me, it just makes me anxious."
Rating: 
Summary: Not that insightful
Review: I found the author's treatment of middle-aged crises and divorces a bit trite and stereotypical. It reads just like any other situation I've seen in movies, real life, etc. Being a baby boomer myself, with friends who have divorced and some of them for similar reasons, I didn't think Mr. Margulies had any terrific insights into the situation. He definitely created four distinct personalities, and none of them were solely "the good guy" or "the bad guy", but I think, based on the reviews I'd read before reading this play, and based on seeing a performance of "Collected Stories", I expected more. I think "Collected Stories" was far more deserving of a Pulitzer.
Rating:
Summary: Not that insightful
Review: I found the author's treatment of middle-aged crises and divorces a bit trite and stereotypical. It reads just like any other situation I've seen in movies, real life, etc. Being a baby boomer myself, with friends who have divorced and some of them for similar reasons, I didn't think Mr. Margulies had any terrific insights into the situation. He definitely created four distinct personalities, and none of them were solely "the good guy" or "the bad guy", but I think, based on the reviews I'd read before reading this play, and based on seeing a performance of "Collected Stories", I expected more. I think "Collected Stories" was far more deserving of a Pulitzer.
Rating:
Summary: "...then all of a sudden the earth cracks open."
Review: I listened to part of this play during a radio broadcast as I was driving to an appointment the other day. I found it compelling and disturbing, upsetting and fascinating...all at once. It doesn't read with the same energy it has when well-acted, but is nevertheless worth the hour or two it takes to read it. Just the idea of being in a committed relationship is frightening for many people, and the reality can cause one to feel trapped (or alive--or both). "Dinner with Friends" captures many of the unsettling aspects of the marriages of two separate couples. Though one marriage remains intact as the other falls apart and becomes nothing but history (and two kids), the way conversations, emotions and events play out are not exactly as expected. Although I disliked all of the characters in this play--they're simply too fake and uptight for my taste--I think "Dinner with Friends" has enough value to make reading it worthwhile. Not only does Margulies's play highlight many of the specters which lurk around the edges of some committed relationships; it also brings to light the important and interesting distinction between story and truth in everyday life.
Rating:
Summary: I'll be pondering for weeks to come...
Review: I'll avoid giving a synopsis as so many have already. I had the pleasure of seeing this play on stage. I had a conversation afterwards with one of the actors (Gabe) who is a good friend. There's one thing in particular I'd like to point out from the conversation with him. He told me that the play "doesn't read well" - you wind up thinking it's just another overwrought "Thirty-Something". But, it "plays" entirely differently. I will freely admit that the complicated issues brought up by the play had me crying most of the way through it. (Yes, I'm a guy.) Who's right? Who's wrong? Uh... yes! They all are... both right and wrong. It would certainly be easy to dismiss this work as just more "Thirty-Something" or as being too "Boomer"-esque. I'm not a Boomer. I'm an X-er, as a matter of fact, and it's resonating very loudly. My partner and I have struggled with the issues raised, as have partners of any generation, and will for generations to come. I don't want to discourage anyone from buying the book/script. But please remember, this is a play. Let in be enacted in your mind as you read. Feel the situation. If it's totally foreign, try to go outside of yourself and make it your own. The depth of the drama will come through.
Rating:
Summary: I'll be pondering for weeks to come...
Review: I'll avoid giving a synopsis as so many have already. I had the pleasure of seeing this play on stage. I had a conversation afterwards with one of the actors (Gabe) who is a good friend. There's one thing in particular I'd like to point out from the conversation with him. He told me that the play "doesn't read well" - you wind up thinking it's just another overwrought "Thirty-Something". But, it "plays" entirely differently. I will freely admit that the complicated issues brought up by the play had me crying most of the way through it. (Yes, I'm a guy.) Who's right? Who's wrong? Uh... yes! They all are... both right and wrong. It would certainly be easy to dismiss this work as just more "Thirty-Something" or as being too "Boomer"-esque. I'm not a Boomer. I'm an X-er, as a matter of fact, and it's resonating very loudly. My partner and I have struggled with the issues raised, as have partners of any generation, and will for generations to come. I don't want to discourage anyone from buying the book/script. But please remember, this is a play. Let in be enacted in your mind as you read. Feel the situation. If it's totally foreign, try to go outside of yourself and make it your own. The depth of the drama will come through.
Rating:
Summary: Insight Well Seen
Review: Last season's foursome relationship play, Closer, by Patrick Marber, has many deserving admirers, but I'm partial to Dinner with Friends, and not just for the Pulitzer award, or because it's an American play, not British. What Margulies does so deftly is create individuals, couples, and friendships, all of which are distinct entities ... in a play that shows great insight into my generation's struggle with intimacy. Reading or watching the play I find myself hating the divorcing couple, yet unable to dismiss them. They are fully credible characters, acting out of clearly realized inner needs. I would recomment Donald Margulies' play to anyone who appreciates subtle realsim, peppered with subtle insight and humor.
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