Synopsis:
Nick is a single Italian-American guy from New
Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida.
That doesn’t mean his family isn’t still in Jersey.
In fact he sees both sets of his grandparents every
Sunday for dinner.
This is routine until he has to tell them that
he’s been offered a dream job. The job he’s been
waiting for — marketing executive — would
take him away from his beloved (but annoying)
grandparents. He tells them. The news doesn’t sit
so well.
Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick
around. How could he betray his family’s love, to
move to Seattle for a job, wonder his
grandparents?
Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma do their
level best, and that includes bringing to dinner
the lovely — and single — Caitlin O’Hare as
bait ..... we won’t give the ending away here.
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Review:
by Linda Kirkman, Theatre Critic for the Daily Echo.
"THIS play explores a subject to
which we can almost all relate to
some degree or other — the binding
nature of family, the need for some
to escape, and the insular, sometimes
selfish aspects of old age. But
this somewhat serious pill is coated
with gentle humour, making it easy,
if thought-provoking, to swallow.
It is set around Nick Cristano, a
young marketing executive who
regularly visits his two sets of
Italian-American grandparents in
New Jersey, a bus ride away from
his own home. When Nick makes
an unexpected announcement about
his future, it seems that his grandparents
will do all in their power to
make him change his plans.
The claustrophobic atmosphere
of the set-up, partly illustrated by
the heat in a house where the air
conditioning is not switched until
July 4, regardless of the weather,
and where food is offered as a
panacea for all ills, is brilliantly
conveyed in Andrew Whyatt's
superb production. It hits all the
right buttons and is beautifully performed
by the entire cast - Paul
Oliver (grandson Nick Cristano),
Tony Orman & Virginia Harrington
(Frank & Aida Gianelli), Derek
Hyder & Lolly Endacott (Nunzio &
Emma Cristano) and Natalie Castka
(Emma's friend). |
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