The Foursome is an odd play to begin with - the idea is that four university friends have reunited after 15 years to play a round of golf after a night at a reunion. They spend 18 holes (19 if you include the visit to the clubhouse in between the 9th and 10th holes) reminiscing about their glory days, and what we find out is that you can never relive those days because people change.
The four actors in the play are Andrew McNee (Rick), Joshua Reynolds (Ted), David Thomson (Cameron) and Toby Berner (Donnie) and they all do an admirable job with the material. McNee gets most of the laughs as the schemer Rick, and Berner as Donnie is the go to guy for some cheap chuckles. Joshua Reynolds has the toughest task amongst the four, juggling the heavier moments with ease and having some fun with the lighter comedic moments. Thomson seems to be out of place with this group, but plays the family man to the letter.
The performances are good enough, but the material is what lets them down. Foster has created characters that are so thin and uninteresting by the time we get to the middle of act two, we just want the night to end.
Sarah Rodgers does a decent job directing the scenes to make it tolerable for the audience, moving her actors around various platforms so the action doesn't remain static. She also keeps the pace of the show at quite a pace, which was appreciated. The set by Marti Wright is functional, and while it looks too artificial in places, including a sand trap that barely has enough sand to cover the stage floor, it serves its purpose.
The blame is squarely pointed at playwright Norm Foster (The Melville Boys, The Love List) as his writing is what lets this production down. He has written a comedy that is not funny, and he uses jokes that have been recycled ("You've hit more trees than Paul Bunyan", for example). By the time he gets to a joke about a golfer's dead wife, we're so bored and uninterested that we start looking for the nearest exit.
The Foursome does almost everything wrong, save for some decent performances from the cast. They can't be blamed for the playwrights lack of creative writing and sour, dated humour.
This comedy needs a mulligan and a do-over. Sadly, the audience still has to sit through it and bear it, and it's a lot like when you first begin to golf - you get frustrated and just want to throw your clubs into the woods.
The Foursome plays at the Gateway Theatre in Richmond until October 24th. For tickets and show information, click on the Gateway Theatre website.
*1/2 (out of five)
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