The Realistic Joneses - F.E.S.T. - Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre
What starts as casual neighborly small talk between two suburban couples— both with the last name Jones—slowly turns into recurring meetings where their lives become intertwined. Secrets are uncovered, marriages are tested, and mortality poses an ever-present enigma.
The Realistic Joneses is a sharply funny and deeply moving exploration of love, illness, and the strange, beautiful ways we try to connect. Offering an inside look at the people next door and the secrets we never imagined we might share, the play invites us to consider what it truly means to live with—and love—others. In this groundbreaking production, approved by the playwright, The Realistic Joneses is reimagined with two female couples, offering a fresh and relevant perspective that stays true to the original play.
About the playwright:
Will Eno is an American playwright known for his sharp wit, offbeat humor, and emotionally resonant storytelling. His work has earned him widespread acclaim, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Thom Pain (based on nothing) and an Obie Award for playwriting. With his Broadway debut The Realistic Joneses, he explores the absurdities of everyday life and the quiet complexities of human connection.
Director’s note:
Why choose The Realistic Joneses?
I stumbled upon Will Eno when I read Middletown and immediately knew that this was a playwright to watch. Then I read The Realistic Joneses just before the pandemic and put it on the “must direct one day” shortlist. I look for two things in plays: Does the language appeal to my ear? Does the play expose the human condition in one manner or another? Eno’s work does both in the most endearing, frustrating and touching way possible.
Why produce it with four women?
How did “Bob and Jennifer and John and Pony” become “Nan and Jennifer and Kate and Pony”? I didn’t begin the casting process set on the idea of four women, but I’ve always been open to nontraditional casting. I cast a woman as Captain Phillip in Our Country’s Good. I cast a woman as Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest. At the auditions, I read everyone for both roles in each couple. I read women together. I read men together. I read lots of men and women together. We had some wonderful people at the audition, including another woman for Nan, a man for Bob, a man for Pony. It was a matter of chemistry. These pairs of women were the right fit. And they’ve been a dream to work with as, together, we bring Will Eno’s script to glorious life. Don’t let their gender mislead you; this is about the human condition, however you identify.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
