Matthew Perry is off to a fine start as a playwright but needs to work harder to make Friends in the theatre

Matthew Perry's debut as a playwright stands on a knife edge between the actor's two most famous personas, one as the affable Chandler and the other, his well-documented battle with addiction. What we get is something in the middle, especially with his character Jack, a sardonic alcoholic who’s the self-defined 'smart one' in a clutch of lost souls who meet in a bar searching for love and meaning in Los Angeles.

Perry has given himself three other tropes to play against in this tightly written work, the prostitute Stephanie, the neurotic Stevie and the idiot Joseph. Colliding randomly into one another, this group pair off, with Stevie going against type with Joe, and Jack finding a glimmer of love with Stephanie. So far, so formulaic.

But despite strong performances from the supporting cast, none of these characters find themselves filled out and the writing around the women becomes laboured after a promising start.

However no one is really here to see these other characters, and to an extent Perry doesn't seem to need them in this play, because the underlying self-hatred evident in Jack is the real substance he should be exploring. Ostensibly, Perry has created a confessional work, a public act of self-flagellation and indulgence, which given his past is seemingly necessary and you can't accuse him of not writing what he knows, but it is largely glib as Jack's alcoholism is diluted by the other characters, who are not nearly so self-destructive. The End of Longing is strongest when Perry stops firing zingers and displays some pathos, but unfortunately, this is not often enough.

Overall, the pacing had a few issues, and although Anna Fleischle's set was superbly slick, it trundled too long with its sitcom-like short acts, but there is something here.

The End of Longing is a peek into a psyche we thought we knew, and once Perry gets into his stride, he'll make great writer, hopefully discarding his clear David Mamet boner for something truer to himself.

The End of Longing runs at the Playhouse Theatre till May 14th

Reviewed by @ThisisKittyMac on February 11th 2016.