Free gourmet doughnuts certainly makes for a superior press night

This spring, Southwark Playhouse’s studio theatre plays host to the UK première of Tracy Letts’s play Superior Donuts. Dishevelled hippy Arthur Przybyszewski’s doughnut shop is struggling to stay afloat, especially since a Starbucks has opened just a few feet away from his shop ‘Superior Donuts’, which has been in his family for generations.

When Arthur (Mitchell Mullen) arrives at work to discover that Superior Donuts has been broken into, he understandably feels dejected and is all ready to give up and shut up shop – that is until young local boy Franco Wicks (Jonathan Livingstone) arrives on his doorstep in desperate need of a job. As Franco, Livingstone bursts onto the stage like a bouncy whipper-snapper brimming with ways to drum up customers for this failing business. Although Arthur isn’t enthused by his suggestions of a poetry night and stocking healthy alternatives, he decides to give him the job regardless. Despite being the complete antithesis of each other, Superior Donuts charts the surprising relationship between Arthur and Franco, from their strained relations as employee and employer to finally becoming firm friends with a mutual appreciation of home-made doughnuts.

Superior Donuts takes a little while to find its stride, as much of the opening dialogue relies too heavily on humour that derives from lazy racial stereotypes. That said, the piece does begin to warm up when all the other characters leave the stage except an enthusiastic Franco, who is trying and failing to discover more about what lies beneath Arthur’s jaded exterior. As a man of very few words, Arthur is enigmatic and –like Franco – the audience is keen to learn more about him and his past. Letts cleverly provides snippets of his back-story through a series of internal monologues that are interwoven into the action. These direct addresses touch on his proposal to his first wife, his father’s death and his estranged daughter whom he is reluctant to speak about at any great length. Mullen’s delivery is understated yet believable: the realism is so tangible that you can almost forget that you are watching a play. Instead it feels like you are listening to a real local shopkeeper recounting tales of yesteryear.

The premise of the play is very timely, as the plight of the independent trader struggling to compete with high street giants is a subject that is very rarely out of the news. It’s true that with large food chains such as Krispy Kremes dominating the sector it would appear that even the American sugary treat is under threat. As you would expect, the doughnuts are representative of wider themes such as Arthur’s heritage and family traditions. Although the main idea that runs throughSuperior Donuts is a simple one, it is still very effective and easy to relate to.

Superior Donuts is a dark comedy with a true heart and believable characters. What’s more, in case all this talk of doughnuts has left you craving some, gourmet doughnut company Glazed & Confused will be selling their wares during the interval for the entire run. Although it’s hard to say whether it is Arthur or Glazed & Confused who make the most superior doughnuts, I can vouch for the latter being rather scrumptious.