Mobile phones are not just for high rollers, the risible notion of opening a restaurant in up-and-coming Bow now seems far sighted, and the laddish bants among the all-male cast gets wearisome.
What does hold up is Marber’s evocation – clearly influenced by Mamet and Pinter – of the toxic camaraderie and destructive compulsion to risk everything on the turn of a card.
Theo Barklem-Biggs’ chef Sweeney is a roiling boil of anger and self-loathing, even as he bets his last pound saved for taking his estranged daughter to the zoo.
Alfie Allen’s geezerish, underwritten waiter Frankie dreams of moving to Vegas, while controlling restaurant owner and poker addict Stephen (Daniel Lapaine) has bailed out his privileged son Carl’s gambling debts, yet boasts that he taught him to play.
They’re an unappealing, mostly thinly drawn bunch in Matthew Dunster’s often sagging revival, which suffers from sightlines where key scenes are played with the actor’s back to you.
Moi Tran’s dour but sleek set layers the restaurant floor above the kitchen – at one point raising the stage entirely to reveal the basement room for the final poker night showdown – and father-son confrontation that doesn’t quite hit home.
It is Hammed Animashaun’s Mugsy who is the beating heart of the piece and comical stealer of scenes. Endowed with the best dialogue he beautifully plays the waiter’s irrepressible hopefulness, battered self-image, and heartbreakingly impossible dreams.
Whether it’s an exchange over a sliced Snickers, a ghastly Rayon tie, or his business plan to open a restaurant in a converted toilet, it may be that Mugsy – as the only one to find poker fun – is the least of the losers in an otherwise busted flush.
Dealer’s Choice runs at The Donmar Warehouse in London until June 7.
