The American Plan review, The St James Theatre

Richard Greenberg's, The American Plan, set in the Catskill Mountains in the 1950s has an enviable clarity for a play that's all about people undergoing reinvention.  He can expose the soul of a woman through her description of a meal, and the pain of existence through the secrets and lies and, above all, the longing for love and for security, of people displaced or hurt by war and personal conflict. The writing is top notch.

Lili and her ferociously clever mother, Eva, are German Jews who fled the Nazis and are now part of a community in New York.  The American Plan is the name of an all-in deal offered to holidaymakers and in the cracking opening scene, Lili determinedly reels in the handsome American orphan, Nick, as he emerges from the lake at her family's summer holiday rental in the Catskills. Is is not just the heat that's stifling. Constricted by her controlling mother, the ethereal and emotionally fragile Lili sees Nick as her salvation, but he is not the solid man she imagines. Everyone in this piece has feet of clay. When Eva investigates Nick, the destruction of her happiness that Lili fears, is wrought.

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Greenberg creates complex characters in ways that make them easy to understand. Of their number, only  Lili has a singular purpose. Alas, she is the least equipped to manage it.  Eva's layers are shown to us through scenes with biting dialogue and brilliantly visual insights: her description of an American meal which began with a salad, is priceless.  As Eva, Diana Quick delivers benign solutions in the most cruel and destructive ways. When Gil - the man that Nick once loved - tracks him down, there is nothing left that's certain. Nothing, even the storyline, is what one expects. It's Gatsbyesque. The set is not the finest, but it does fine. Directed by David Grindley and laced with humour, this is an intelligent play with a profundity that is underscored in the memorable final line.

In conclusion: Luke Allen-Gale is a terrific Nick: charismatic, convincing and cool. Emily Taaffe as Lili is vital and beguiling. Dona Kroll as Eva's help, Olivia, is elegantly droll and Mark Edel-Hunt is a charming, conniving Gil. Quick is a revelation: her accent, her timing, and her physicality work together in grotesque and glorious harmony.

References
St James Theatre, Tickets

St James Theatre, 12 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JA      Production ends August 10