Bad decisions have taken lifetime root and stoic self-acceptance has yet to provide the cheerfully numbing effect that comes later in life. Written by Stuart Flack, this darkly comic work consists entirely of the tavern conversations of three former high school buddies. Especially if the conversation takes place in Chicago. Although they chatter, kvetch and cajole with the kind of thinly veiled verbal hostility associated with the plays of David Mamet, these longtime friends have reached a certain comfortable stalemate. Dex is a smart but strange fellow who likes to sleep in parks under stars.
Flack knows how to interweave a narrative mystery into casual conversation.
And even though this is a confined dramatic situation, interest is maintained for 100 intermissionless minutes. The play is also helped by a savvy and well-paced production from Sandy Shinner. All three actors are strong, but no one in town captures this kind of strung-out whiner better than Dempsey, who has played similar parts superbly for years. For all its formative skills and entertainment value, this is not a very soulful play. It feels like the work comes from a smart writer who has not primed the necessary theatrical pump of risky self-revelation.