My overall impression
“Friends Like These” is an amazing play. Five high school kids are torn between social conformity and the impulses of the heart. But here, as in life, young love is tragic love, new and strange and deeply felt, with competing peer groups, shifting alliances, tested loyalties, and secret passions. Writer Gregory Crafts puts his five characters through the emotional and psychological wringer that is high school. He builds tension throughout his tightly-paced plot, and caps it with a satisfying end that nails his theme to the floorboards. His characters are finely drawn, his dialog sharp. The use of live-action role-playing (LARPing) is great theatrical fun. The acting is strong and the direction brisk. Both relevant and entertaining, this unflinching look at young tribalism is a must-see for anyone who has escaped the hell that is high school, and for those still attempting to.
