The Dinner Party

Writer Tony Grounds in on familiar territory in 'The Dinner Party': the stomping grounds of the working class made good. In just one hour, he compactly tells a story in which years of tensions between a pair of couples reach boiling point, and with fine performances from a strong cast, there's a blackly hilarious conclusion to the tale. It is, however, a bit heavy handed, one almost feels that these characters should be minor figures in someone else's drama: in fact, he does introduce a third, relatively normal, couple to the plot, but the heart of the story lies elsewhere and you can't help but feeling that all the central parties basically get what they deserve. Hence one watches as something of a distant spectator; but it's still a fine show.