The Unfriend

The Drama

British couple, Peter (Tim Walter) and Debbie (Alex Lee), are facing a dilemma.

They’ve just returned from a cruise holiday where they – kind of, but not really – made friends with an American widow named Elsa Jean Krakowski (Helen Thomson).

Through a series of misunderstandings and polite conversational accommodations, Peter and Debbie have given Elsa Jean their address and agreed that she’s welcome to stay if she should ever find herself in London.

Unfortunately, “if ever” has blossomed into “now” and Elsa Jean is expected tomorrow.

But who is Elsa Jean Krakowski? Maybe a google search might reveal more about the loud, eccentric lady Peter and Debbie met on their cruise.

Enter the dilemma.

If google is to be believed, Elsa Jean is hiding a dark secret which poses an existential threat to Peter, Debbie and their two children.

Perhaps Peter and Debbie should un-friend Elsa Jean? But Peter and Debbie are British, which means that the risk of social embarrassment is often a fate worse than death.

Photo Credit – STC / Prudence Upton

The Moment

I won’t give too much away – because the scene is so confrontingly hilarious that it needs to be experienced live – but there’s a scene in the Second Act which had our Saturday matinee audience simultaneously gasping for breath and screaming with horror.

Let’s just say it involves a guest using the downstairs toilet and a social dilemma that even Basil Fawlty couldn’t have dreamt up, followed by one of best sight gags I ever seen executed on a stage.

Photo Credit – STC / Prudence Upton

What My Eyebrows Told Me

The Unfriend is a hoot. There may be echoes from Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses, Keeping Up Appearances and other Brit-Comedy staples, but it’s awfully well done and playwright, Steven Moffat, has only built on the best bits.

My eyebrows were chuckling away in a Supreme Arch throughout. If there was a level of arch beyond a Supreme Arch during the downstairs toilet scene, that’s where my eyebrows would have been.

For more information on The Unfriend:

Sydney Theatre Company – THE UNFRIEND