Things We Want, by Jonathan Marc Sherman and just opened for a short run at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington has somewhat of an A-list pedigree. The play, billed intriguingly as a “dirty sexy suicide comedy” was originally directed by Ethan Hawke and produced by the Tony Award-winning team This is our Youth, starring Matt Dillon and the excellently twisted Sesame-Street-gone-dark puppet musical, Avenue Q. So quite a coup for this little south London theatre-above-a-pub – especially if they mirror the original’s glowing reviews (The New York Times described it as “a thickly whimsical comedy of despair” with “the highest cool quotient of any show in town”). No pressure then.
The edgily comic story follows three grown-up brothers who’ve moved back into their childhood home following the deaths of their parents. Their relationships undergo drastic changes when a female neighbour enters their lives – and the play is billed as “a sweet and sour look at the illusions we have about what makes us happy”.
