Of course, the play also works on its own internal terms. The breakdown of the Friends is in part orchestrated by Matt (Todd D’Amour) the character referred to in the play’s title. Matt is a violent, gruff individual who’s grainy voice rivals that of Christian Bale’s Batman. Despite his general misanthropy, Matt still has human needs, which lead him to at least try to build a relationship with Celia (the hilarious Carrie Keranen).
Celia is Matt’s polar opposite, someone who is everyone’s #1 Friend. Yet, she shares Matt’s inability to relate to other people on a much deeper level. The fact that Matt and Celia’s perspectives meet at opposite ends of the spectrum is probably what draws them together, even though their relationship is turbulent from the start.
Susan Louise O’Conner and Josh Lefkowitz serve as an effective greek chorus of friends and Friends, each cast in several roles ranging from the alcoholic Friend with a plummeting ranking, the lawyer who keeps his Friends from his cynical wife, and the hopelessly cheesy losers doomed to eternal friend status. O’Conner and Lefkowitz display remarkable range in their eclectic roles, even if some of their performances succumb to the play’s more cartoonish tendencies.
The highlight of the cast is without a doubt Amy Staats’ Enid, a mentally unstable but consistently lovely woman who is fully aware of her “friend” status, and uses narrating as therapy. Though Staats looks like Ana Gasteyer, her performance more closely resembles Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher in her overwhelming eagerness to impress and the embarrassment that ensues. She’s as funny and sympathetic as any quirky female character you’ll see on the stage.
What to Do When You Hate All Your Friends lets those damn rankings and rules overtake the play in the second half, to the point where the play’s initial charm begins to sag. But while dramatically the play eventually loses its appeal, the gags and laughs remain throughout the evening. Even in the clunky second act you can get by with its characters having perpetual “Meltdowns,” the coup Matt stages in the Friends system, or Enid’s constant unprovoked interjections.
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