More Theater Monday - Staff Meal

We were given complimentary tickets to Staff Meal for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Staff Meal

 Where: Playwrights Horizon

               416 W. 42nd St.

               New York, NY

Who: Ages 13 and Up

When: Through May 24, 2024

Staff Meal is at first just a slightly offbeat play. A couple notices each other at a coffee shop and exchange hellos. Then the action switches to the next day. This happens several times. Finally, the pair actually get up the courage to speak to each other beyond exchanging hellos, and they go out walking and end up at this restaurant.  Here they engage in a very mundane but also incredibly odd conversation.  Up to this point. the show is hilariously funny even though the plot does not advance at all, and it isn't even clear if there really is a plot.

After that, the show just goes completely bizarrely off the rails. All semblance of any sort of plot completely disappears.  The show bounces around between several different characters and nothing really happens. The funniest and most relatable moment occurs when an audience member loudly starts questioning what is happening and whether there is actually anything happening at all . It turns out that there is both more and less to this moment than at first appears.

There are funny moments, throughout the show and the performances are generally good. They do their best with the material or lack thereof with which they are given. There is also nothing that necessarily makes the show unsuitable or offensive for younger audiences.  Due to its strangeness and lack of plot, we recommend it for slightly older audiences with better attention spans. However, on the whole, the show will leave you wondering where the last hour and a half of your life went and questioning what you chose to do with it. On the other hand, if you like a show that completely subverts all your expectations albeit in a quite bizarre way, you may enjoy it.

And that's our review. For more about Staff Meal or to purchase, tickets www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/staff-meal

Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.

Photo credits:

All Staff Meal production photos by Chelcie Parry

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms and are used by permission. If there is a problem with the rights to any image, please contact us here, and we will look into the matter.