LONDON SUITE, produced on Broadway in 1995, is a collection of four short plays set in the same suite of a fashionable old hotel in London. In each playlet Simon sets a different tone, starting with a thriller, moving to a comedy, then to a comedy-drama, and finally a hilarious farce. LONDON SUITE contains Simon’s characteristic witty dialogue, sight gags and unexpected moments of poignancy. What makes the play even more interesting is seeing a small group of talented actors portray all the various characters in the four different playlets. The first story, Settling Accounts, has a Welsh writer holding a gun on his horrified financial manager who has stolen all of his money. In Going Home, an American widow is shopping her way through London, while her daughter tries to couple her mother with a Scotsman who is allergic to marriage. In the poignant Diana & Sidney, the playwright brings back two characters from his earlier play, CALIFORNIA SUITE. The Oscar-winning actress Diana, somewhat older now, is in London promoting her hit TV series and meets up with her ex-husband, who has been living in Greece with his sculptor boyfriend. The fourth and final playlet, The Man on the Floor, is a farce that features Mark and Annie, two frantic American tourists who have lost their Wimbledon tickets. When things could not get worse they do, of course. Mark’s back goes out and a doctor is called in, whose back also goes out. The hotel staff, in the meantime, is frustrated because someone has mistakenly put Mark and Annie in the suite that the Hollywood actor, Kevin Kostner, was supposed to have.
