Paddy Chayevsky lives — only shorter.
“The Counter” features what used to be called back in the 1950’s “the little people.” There’s a waitress, Katie (Susannah Flood) who works the early morning shift at the counter of a greasy spoon. It is not a very successful business, it seems. Every day, she has only one person to serve, Paul (Anthony Edwards), who is her first and perhaps only customer. What “Groundhog Day” is to rodents, Meghan Kennedy’s new play is to coffee.
“The Counter” opened Wednesday at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre, and it could be called a two-hander if not for the fact that a woman named Peg (Amy Warren) shows up shortly before its 75-minutes wrap. Kennedy’s play follows Jen Silverman’s “The Roommate” and Max Wolf Friedlich’s “Job,” both of which are now playing on Broadway but suffer from the same skimpiness of detail and character. All three plays try to make up for their meagerness with a dollop of sensationalism. In “Job,” someone is held hostage. In “The Roommate,” a very ordinary woman becomes a joyous criminal. In “The Counter,” we are treated to serious physical and mental health concerns. (I’m trying not to be a spoiler here.)
In “The Counter,” the weightiness of the subject matter does bring about some suspense. Will Katie or won’t Katie comply with Jack’s outrageous wish? David Cromer directs Flood and Edwards to give very low-key kitchen-sink performances, which is apt considering the eatery locale, which is a most realistic set by Walt Spangler. For a moment, when Paul lets go with his big request of Katie, it appears that Kennedy is reaching for another “Nighthawk,” by Edward Hopper, but set in the early-morning hours.
Even though the play lasts only 75 minutes, it divides neatly into three acts. In the first third, Kennedy gives both Katie and Paul intriguing “Strange Interlude” moments in which each of them delivers his or her private thoughts without the other character hearing those thoughts. Then Paul delivers his bombshell, which is dramatic and promising. And then Kennedy spends the last third of her play defusing the shock of that moment by turning “The Counter” into a most sentimental journey: Everything connects! Everybody has a purpose in life! Frankly, I was hoping for the opposite — that Katie would carry out Paul’s request.
Death hovers over these two characters, and, no doubt, when they finally pass away, they will have a lot to talk about with the black-and-white characters from Chayevsky’s “Marty.”
There was a time in the theater when a play like “The Counter” – or “Job” or “The Roommate” – would have been paired with another play. Think of Edward Albee’s “The American Dream” and “The Zoo Story.” There was also Elaine May and Alan Arkin’s funny triptych “Power Plays” that arrived just before the turn of the century. Since then, a night in the theater is shorter than an afternoon at the movies. Jez Butterworth’s “The Hills of California” just opened on Broadway and a revival of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” opens tomorrow night. The difference between those plays and “The Counter” is the difference between a full meal and a bite-size snack.
