'The End of Longing' Playhouse Theatre **

Debuting an original play in the heart of London’s West End can certify that it may not be the wisest choice to make; expressly if the play has as much entertainment as watching paint dry, then this show is one with ghastly humour. The West End production of Friends actor, Matthew Perry’s play, ‘The End of Longing’ was an exceedingly mind-numbingly dull and boring show about friendships, simultaneously, the enactments were really woeful.

‘The End of Longing’ is set in a Los Angeles, USA where we’re acquainted with sozzled and dishevelled 40 year old photographer, Jack who enters his favourite leisurely place which is a bar is joined by his brainless soft-lad friend, Joseph who are of course guzzling lots of alcohol become fascinated by another set of friends, high-end prostitute, Stephanie and pharmaceutical supplier, Stevie. Due to the fact that all four of them are in a drunken state end up making love in bed where each and every one of them have to face their own individual demons such as commitment, addiction and so much more. Over the course of the performance, we see how the two pairs of best friends structure a pleasant group where their meeting place is at the same bar they met, however, Jack’s behaviour causes a lot of concern and because of this, Joseph as his close friend has to walk him home and his fledgling relationship with Stephanie is already on the rocks before it has even started. As such; Stephanie is insistent that he must give up drinking. Unlike Jack and Stephanie’s turbulent coupling, Joseph and Stevie’s one is a little bit more romantic despite Stevie’s controlling character, yet, Joseph finds this quite alluring and doesn’t care about what she says to him. Nonetheless, Stevie has some out of the blue news as she learns that she is pregnant with Joseph’s baby, understandably she goes a little bit mental, but even though Joseph is goofy, he appears to have a method to calm her down and promises that he’ll support her throughout her pregnancy. The months plod on by and Jack and Stephanie’s relationship is on its last legs where Jack’s drinking is pushing Stephanie to braking point and states that if he does not go to rehab or go to AA for his boozing then their kinship will be over and from constant arguments their relationship ends.  When Stevie’s waters break, Jack and Stephanie are re-united but under rather awkward circumstances as Jack is still drinking heavily and you would think that he couldn’t be even more selfish, then again this is proven when he walks out of the hospital to get his fix of alcohol. There are complications with Stevie’s pregnancy when she falls into a coma for some time and Joseph is immensely emotional and cannot fathom why Jack has ventured out for a stiff drink and when Jack returns, Joseph confronts him for his egotistical attitude. Thankfully Stevie regains consciousness  and you can see that herself and Joseph are in love with one another and this is what Jack and Stephanie want for themselves. At the finale, because of a pact that Jack and Stephanie have with each other, Stephanie has given up her job as a prostitute and Jack has given up drinking and goes to AA meetings like he agreed. Perry’s narrative is heinous as there isn’t really a proper analysis of friendships coming together which therefore states that the plotline is pretty limited and the desired comic values doesn’t work and this is not great as it’s supposed to be a comedy play. 

One found the performances by the company of, ‘The End of Longing’ to be restricted and flimsy because the actual characters don’t appear to be that charismatic apart from Joseph, paradoxically, there is a disappointing approach to what is physically funny  to which is dead droll and the one lines were poorly executed at times. Matthew Perry is mediocre as central protagonist, Jack; especially by the fact that in how he portrays the drunken characteristic which doesn’t give us a full presentation of what he can do as a performer, moreover, the scenes with Stephanie does not appears to amorous.  Jennifer Mudge is substandard as Jack’s hopeful suitor, Stephanie; particularly how we can see that at the beginning her somewhat indiscreet job suggests that she has to be strong but this changes when she becomes involved with Jack and there is an element of suffering that radiates through Jack’s binge-drinking. Lloyd Owen is conventional as Jack’s silly friend, Joseph; specifically how his friendship with Jack does show that is largely one-sided and the way in which he confront Jack for his lack of control in a situation where he needed him makes you warm to him and he is what makes the comedic lines rib-tickling. Christina Cole is predictable as Joseph’s love-interest, Stevie; predominantly how her fixation with pills has impacted into how she treats people, but when Joseph enters her life, you can see that she has to take a step back and actually allow him to get close to her as there’s something there. 

Lindsay Posner’s direction is shameful here as I’m not really overwhelmed with what was occurring and the friendships and couplings just didn’t cut it and the characterisations made it even more harder to fully absorb into one’s senses and the tragic storyline probably did not help with how Posner directed this production. Anna Fleischle’s designs were all right as the bar in Los Angeles and the other places were clearly defined with appropriate scenic art and construction, on the other hand, there should have been more of an effort co-ordinated into the whole process, but it was okay, just not the best I have witnessed. Overall, the experience of, ‘The End of Longing’ to be an unadventurous and sloppy depiction of middle-aged problems and friendships and what you have to go through at that period of your life, this show is a rubbish attempt, whereas, ‘Reasons to be Happy’ was a more polished play about the same themes.