Four characters, stalked by death, unite on an American porch ahead of their school reunion. They have complicated pasts, which come to the forefront when different relationships devolve back into high school quips. Playfighting and picking on one another, the dynamics between individuals seem frozen in time, despite it being the 20th anniversary of leaving their Washington high school.
Back in school, due to their different ethnicities, they named themselves MERG(E) - multi-ethnic reject group – coming together due to their differences. But despite the initial buzz of excitement that uniting evokes, the characters quickly flit between being closed off and nervous, with worries of secrets or lies being uncovered, either to each other or within themselves.
Laidback Emilio (Anthony Welsh) leads the show, presenting himself as the ringleader who believes his perspective of the past to have steadfast accuracy. The kind and patient Urusla (Tamara Lawrence), who is now struggling with her health, instead distracts the group with positive memories from the past.
Katie Leung's Kristina is joyously fun when she lets loose, and Yolanda Kettle's ditsy blonde is played extremely well, settling into complete denial of her current situation and previously traumatic experiences. Paco (Ferdinand Kingsley) causes chaos through his bubbling army trauma and assumptions about others, being the most disharmonic of the group.
The threat of death looms over the cast, who all perform with strong American accents that eerily shift into British ones when embodying the grim reaper himself, who is commenting on the goings-on. It is unclear, even at the end, what the role of this presence was, as this is only used as a plot device in the epilogue of the show.
While intriguing, a lot of discussion around things the characters have lived through such as the September 11 attacks, the Columbine shooting and Covid-19 lockdowns seems forced. Surely at a reunion you would talk more about what you did together in school?
In addition to this, much of the past is spoken about rather than shown, and the location and set design remains unchanged throughout, making the show quite static. Where subtext and unspoken things may sit, instead each detail is dragged to the forefront and is spoken about, leaving little to the imagination.
While the storytelling elements here are strong, the character development is minimal, leading us to feel indifferent about the play's conclusion. Death is an interesting element to Branden Jacobs Jenkins’ the otherwise naturalistic show but doesn't offer anything conclusive when the show really needs it.