Dealer's Choice at Bedlam Theatre

(originally published in The Student)

     Two waiters and a cook are drinking their boss' stolen wine in the kitchen of a London restaurant and swapping poker tips and stories. One, Mugsy, leaps onto a chair to recount the heart-wrending tale of when he last lost a game. The other waiter sniffs and says simply-“Play the man, not the cards.”

     These words resound throughout Patrick Marber's blisteringly funny play about a simple night of cards after work. A standing tradition for the owner and his staff, the night turns sour when debts are called in and we're asked if money and mates can mix.

     One half of us sits behind Sweeney's kitchen counters while the other watches from the front face of the restaurant, meaning we can see Dealers Choiuce from every angle. Come the second half, we encircle the poker table along with the boys from the restaurant. We laugh along with them, and watch for a tell in the poker face opposite us.

     This second half was the best for showcasing exactly how talented our six EUTC actors are. Far from simply sitting around a table drinking, all of them keep us as an audience constantly excited to be there. Craig Methven's 'psychotically alive' Mugsy has already stolen our hearts and now insists on wearing his lucky hawaiian poker shirt and on bounding around the stage, boasting his win of a whole seven pounds with a playful arrogance that drew applause from the audience.

     When the action slows even a little, a horrible tension fills the room. Sweeney, played by David Elms in a calm rendition of a man just wanting to get on with life, loses his last hand, and his last fifty pounds. As he saunters off drunkenly, the whole theatre goes awkwardly silent, and Stephen tries to brush it off the only way he can- by dealing another card.

     It's this kind of tragedy which breaks through all the comedy of the night. Addiction is never skirted around- in fact we can see it from every side. We see those at the top of the ladder and those right at the bottom, the red and the black, the ace of spades and the jack of clubs.