‘Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner’ at Space Theatre through Feb. 29

Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner is the second of the plays selected from last season’s New Play Summit to be produced at The Denver Center Theatre Company – the tale of a Passover Seder in which there is a mix of family and friends, which is vastly multicultural.

Unlike the sedate and static production of its brother, The Whale, (can you say “sit and deliver?”) this new work has been directed with passion. The topics of politics and religion arise to bite and sting those who do not agree with them. Barbs are thrown and a lively repartee ensues.

During Loomer’s Passover Seder the conflict in the Middle East is just one of the hot topics. It seems everyone has his or her own pet issues, from Buddistic non-violence to bulimia to mix-ups identifying Japanese and Chinese Americans. The smug and the sanctimonious vie with the bratty and the puerile for attention. The mostly fine cast includes: Gabriella Cavallero, Sam Gregory, John Hutton, Caitlin O’Connell, Mimi Lieber and Lenne Wolpe.

The set is beautifully appointed.

The choices for sound, while sometimes odd with prominently-featured Reggae tunes, create a lively curiosity, which make us hungry for some of what we are about to receive.

But the bulimia and Buddhism tend to cloy, and the lack of warmth and affection between family and friends at the top of the play disallows the eruption of vitriol from having the peaceful springboard it requires for exaggerated contrast.

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