Jesse lets rip like Woody Allen with Tourette’s
The Spoils (Trafalgar Studios, London) Verdict: Sweet and sour smut
SINCE playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg has cornered the market in (almost) lovable egomaniacs.
He is the latest in the line of Jewish New York funnymen, and has written himself a play — about a self-important slacker — to showcase his talents. It’s a motormouth talkathon: Woody Allen with Tourette’s.
Eisenberg draws on his own social network for support: appearing alongside Kunal Nayyar (Raj in TV’s The Big Bang Theory), Alfie Allen (son of Keith, sister of Lily, now appearing in Game of Thrones), Katie Brayben (from the Carole King Musical) and foxy Annapurna Sriram (from the original OffBroadway production last year).
The story is about Ben, a film school dropout who sets out for revenge when he discovers his high school crush has become engaged to a boring Wall Street banker.
Eisenberg has created a sometimes brilliant star turn for himself, with the four other actors on the receiving end of his licence to offend. Freighted with strong expletives and lavatorial imagery, his performance walks the line of political correctness.
But the energy of Eisenberg’s tale of flamboyant self-destruction dips in the second half as he tries to pull off an unfeasible (and incomprehensible) redemption story.
There are some good, mostly unrepeatable, jokes in Scott Elliott’s production and our main man is a formidable actor. You can’t take your eyes off him; he speaks as if every line is just occurring to him.
Nayyar plays his sweet but smart roommate, an economics major who is dating Sriram’s hot-to-trot med-student.
Brayben holds up well as the unwitting object of Eisenberg’s obsession. And Alfie Allen makes an affable dimwit who’s never fazed by a putdown. Bursting with precocious talent and energy, Eisenberg is a force to be reckoned with. He just needs to work out if he wants to be sweet — or sour.