Serenading Louie

The skilled Lanford Wilson tirelessly chronicled a certain patch of the underbelly of America as it shifted from blue- to white-collar in the 1960s/70s, a time of Eames chairs, infidelities and blue smoke and white goods. It could seem anachronistic, seeing it now, were we not so recently comfortable with the milieu thanks to Mad Men , Life on Mars etc – and he is, after all, telling a universal story.Unfortunately, this, written in 1970, is not one of his absolute finest, promising much but saying little. Two couples bicker and fret, aspire and perspire. There is infidelity and punchy soliloquies and tragedy. And much fine observation but, in the end, no new eternal truth. Fortunately, the acting lifts this night on to a different plane. Jason Butler Harner and Charlotte Emmerson as one couple; Jason O'Ma ra and Geraldine Somerville as their friends and fellow tragedians turn a middle-of-the-litter play into true, knowing drama with, incidentally, perfect Chicago accents. And an Eames chair. And cigarettes.