Allie Grace Furlong

By Yasmina Reza

Veronica Novak

Before the play begins, two 11-year-old children, Benjamin and Henry, get involved in an argument because Benjamin refuses to let Henry join his ‘gang’. Henry knocks out two of Benjamin’s teeth with a stick. That night, the parents of both children meet to discuss the matter. Henry’s father, Alan, is a lawyer who is never off his mobile phone. Henry’s mother, Annette is in “wealth management” (her husband’s wealth, to be precise), and consistently wears good shoes. Benjamin’s father, Michel, is a self-made wholesaler with an unwell mother. Michel’s wife, Veronica, is writing a book about Darfur. As the evening goes on, the meeting degenerates into the four getting into irrational arguments, and their discussion falls into the loaded topics of sexism, racial prejudice and homophobia.