Risking All on a Turn of a Card
Ash “My steak wasn’t cooked and it was cold.”
Stephen “What did you order?”
Ash “Steak Tartare!”
This play by Patrick Marber was his first. It uses the device of a group playing poker once a week to explore the characters. The game is arranged at a green baize covered table, in the basement beneath a London restaurant. It was first staged in 1995 at the National Theatre but I didn’t see it until 2007 at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The play itself is very well crafted and its original timing hit the surge in online poker playing.
It centres around a group of men all connected with the restaurant. There is the waiter Mugsy (Hammed Animashaun), an immensely likeable and vibrant character, who has ambitions to own his own restaurant. Sweeney (Theo Barklem-Biggs) is the chef who can’t really afford to gamble and has obligations to his estranged four year old daughter, to take her to the zoo and spend on entrance fees. Frankie (Alfie Allen) has ambitions to go to Las Vegas and become a professional poker player.
The restaurant is owned by Stephen (Daniel Lapaine) another poker addict, and father and funder to Carl (Kasper Hilton-Hille, guess whose his acting parents are?). Carl has over extended his borrowing and is in debt to Ash (Brendan Coyle), a shady character, who makes a living from his poker playing. This play is partly a study of addiction and how manipulative addicts can be in whom they choose to sell out.
The play starts with Sweeney insisting that he will not be playing that night but such is the pressure and the lure, he eventually agrees. He gives £50 to Mugsy to keep for him and instructs him not to ever give the money back to him. With each step he is giving into addiction and letting others down. Another player and restaurant employee, Tony, is in Bolton for his father’s funeral which raises the question of suicide, maybe for gamblers whose debts are too large to see any other way out.
Matthew Dunster’s fine tuned direction is impressive in Dealer’s Choice. The type of poker they will play is the dealer’s choice, hence the title. It is remarkable that this modern but 30 year old play shows no sign of aging. The Donmar set by Moi Tran starts with the kitchen and a table in the restaurant but lifts to show the restaurant beneath ground where the game takes place. A single overhead light over the baized table and the round table on a revolve so we can see everyone’s face in turn.
Patrick Marber’s banter has wit and insight as they comment on each other’s addiction. Hammed Animashaun is a comic star with his playful physicality. Kasper Hilton-Hille is very interesting as Stephen’s son relying on his father to bail him out even though he promised not to play. His father says, “You have lied to me for a whole year.” The thrill an addict gets from gambling drags them deeper and deeper and this insightful play allows us to assess the consequences.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
Dealer’s Choice
Written by Patrick Marber
Directed by Matthew Dunster
Cast
Starring:
Alfie Allen
Brendan Coyle
Daniel Lapaine
Hammed Animashaun
Theo Barklem-Biggs
Kasper Hilton-Hille
Creatives
Director: Matthew Dunster
Designer: Moi Tran
Lighting Designer: Sally Ferguson
Fight Director: Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown
Sound Director: Holly Khan
Information
Running Time: Two hours 10 minutes including an interval
Booking to 7th June 2025
Theatre:
Donmar Warehouse
Earlham Street
Covent Garden
London WC2H 9LX
Tube : Covent Garden
Website: donmarwarehouse.com
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Donmar Warehouse
on 29th April 2025
