Dan LeFranc’s roundelay, THE BIG MEAL (at Zeitgeist Stage
through March 7th), follows two ordinary twenty-somethings, named
Sam and Nicole, through courtship (beginning with an impulsive hook up) and marriage
to life’s tragic inevitabilities.
The trick in THE BIG MEAL is that different actors portray a
character as (s)he grows up, switching at the drop of a hat. It’s a bit
confusing at first (and at last) but in between it all makes sense: Little brats
may mature to become (more or less) responsible adults but the conversations
remain the same over four generations. LeFranc makes the dialogue banal on
purpose because (I assume) most conversation is.
This leaves the emotional life of the play up to a director
to fill in the blanks. David Miller deftly creates the humor and the depth
between the lines, chiefly aided by Peter Brown as a crusty old coot, a feisty
in-law and in his most touching turn, as a man facing down dementia. Shelley
Brown, too, gives a strong performance as the mother, grandmother and best of
all, as a woman alone, looking at a future without a partner. The younger
actors play, well…young, which isn’t nearly as interesting as what the older
actors get to play. How often does that happen! Of course, that’s from my
older, biased perspective.
