What I liked
I loved the modern parlance and setting for these Shakesperean besties. Language was no barrier for hearing their story and it felt close to home to leave Ophelia on read before her su*c*de, for Horatio to have a too-expensive apartment because of his proximity to royalty, for Benvolio to not know how to talk to his crush. I loved how much the play toyed with irony for laughs and for knowing shudders. The pacing of the scenes in tandem with the action of the source material was spot on and it always felt like both
What I didn't like
I didn’t need the drunk scene, I don’t feel it added anything in terms of storytelling: no one needed to be inebriated to confess any feelings/accidentally reveal information, I bought the camaraderie without feeling like “ah, yes, they’ve been drunk together. They ARE friends.” and it drew my attention to the acting.
Also…the Thai food in the corner distracted the Hell out of me. Maybe just me, though.
My overall impression
‘Better Friends’ was a fantastic examination of the impact so-called main characters have on the people around them. As tragic as we claim these tragic figures are, the fallout is carried by those left to tell their story and the rest is only silence for the jerks hogging the title.
