Foyer Pleasure
As with Kenneth Lonergan’s earlier success This Is Our Youth, his Lobby Hero is another affectionate comedy about a nerd who, despite the odds, overcomes his nerdiness, scores a moral triumph and even impresses a girl. Set in the lobby of a Manhattan apartment building, wherein resides Mrs. Heinvald, a woman of generous affection beloved of the local cop Bill (Daniel Frederiksen), who visits her each night while doing his beat. The apartment security guard Jeff (Tim Potter) is the most insecure security guard ever! A would-be conversationalist Jeff only stops talking long enough to put his foot in his mouth. Try as he may, he only says the wrong thing, putting Bill’s rookie assistant Dawn (Eryn-Jean Norvill), who Jeff fancies, offside during one of Bill’s nocturnal calls to the Heinvald apartment. Jeff also blabbers his way into the confidence of his boss William (Christopher Kirby) and uncovers some potentially embarrassing secrets.
Jeff's innocent attempts at winning people's admiration and confidence lead to moral dilemma for everyone in the play. William, despite his officiousness and constant proclaiming of his fair-mindedness commits an act of dishonesty as does his buddy Bill. Their juniors, Jeff and Dawn, see things more plainly. Jeff wrestles with the potentially disastrous information while Dawn wrestles it out of him.
Not strictly laugh-out-loud comedy, the play derives its humour from exposing the hidden motives in the situation rather than the situation itself. The scenes are not particularly funny in themselves. Potter flinches like a scalded puppy each time his attempts at camaraderie backfire and suffers agonies of self-consciousness. Denis Moore’s production mixes the table-turning farce with more serious comedy. The scenes between Jeff and William as Jeff's jokes backfire build up the pathos of the poor schlemiel and are intensified when Jeff is intimidated by Bill. The faint glimmer of romance between Jeff and Dawn brings a feeling of relief as well as an actually funny scene.
Jeff's innocent attempts at winning people's admiration and confidence lead to moral dilemma for everyone in the play. William, despite his officiousness and constant proclaiming of his fair-mindedness commits an act of dishonesty as does his buddy Bill. Their juniors, Jeff and Dawn, see things more plainly. Jeff wrestles with the potentially disastrous information while Dawn wrestles it out of him.
Not strictly laugh-out-loud comedy, the play derives its humour from exposing the hidden motives in the situation rather than the situation itself. The scenes are not particularly funny in themselves. Potter flinches like a scalded puppy each time his attempts at camaraderie backfire and suffers agonies of self-consciousness. Denis Moore’s production mixes the table-turning farce with more serious comedy. The scenes between Jeff and William as Jeff's jokes backfire build up the pathos of the poor schlemiel and are intensified when Jeff is intimidated by Bill. The faint glimmer of romance between Jeff and Dawn brings a feeling of relief as well as an actually funny scene.
Dropping his voice half an octave and appearing ten years older Frederiksen is amazing as the gruff, old cop hiding his duplicity behind his badge. Norvill gives the impression, by often avoiding eye-contact with Bill, of insecurity different from Jeff''s and creates with Potter some convincingly 'low-voltage' sexual tension between the anxious pair. Lobby Hero poses a few problems in genre definition, how much of a comedy is it intending to be? The production, however, was highly polished and cleanly focused - of the the case with Red Stitch due to the intimacy of the acting space.
picture: Jodie Hutchinson
Lobby Hero (2004) by Kenneth Lonergan
Jeff - Tim Potter
William - Christopher Kirby
Bill - Daniel Frederiksen
Dawn - Eryn-Jean Norvill
Director - Denis Moore
Designer - Shaun Gurton
10 June - 11 July 2009
130 minutes (including 1 interval)
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