The Stage

Six Degrees of Separation

Published Wednesday 20 January 2010 at 11:50 by Aleks Sierz

“When artists dream, they dream of money,” says the New York socialite Ouisa in John Guare’s entertaining but insubstantial play, now revived after its premiere at the Royal Court in 1992. And, since her husband Flan is an art dealer, she knows what she’s talking about. But when this smug couple give shelter to Paul, a young man who claims to be the victim of a mugging, their whole world is shaken.

Lesley Manville (Ouisa) and Obi Abili (Paul) in Six Degrees Of Separation at the Old Vic Photo: Tristram Kenton

Inspired by a real story of a con artist who fooled wealthy Manhattan residents by posing as the son of legendary actor Sidney Poitier, the plays buzzes with ideas about identity, celebrity and class division. A collage of neat stories about the superficiality of our times, the play itself is a rather tricksy, if occasionally resonant, account of the effects of an economic bubble.

When Ouisa, played with integrity by Lesley Manville, says that only six people separate everyone on the planet, from street cleaner to president, the intellectual appeal of the idea - and its silliness - sum up the limits of her world. But Guare makes Paul - embodied with terrific charm and energy by Obi Abili - into more than a cipher. He is a wake-up call for a whole nation.

After a far from engaging start, David Grindley’s poorly lit production hits its stride about halfway through, and both Manville and Anthony Head, who plays her husband, manage to convey the emptiness at the heart of their lives. With good support from Sara Stewart and Steven Pacey as their loud neighbours, the play develops into a symbolic account of American family life.

But its star is Abili’s Paul, who plausibly passes himself off as their children’s friend, amusingly impersonates Poitier and then mesmerises the audience with his moving portrayal of a lost soul on a journey to nowhere. In the end, the play is not very persuasive, but his performance is.