The people who sign up for the class are Schultz, a recently divorced carpenter; Lauren, a reserved high school junior; Theresa, a former actor; and Marty's husband James.

[2] Directed by Sam Gold, the cast featured Reed Birney (Schultz), Tracee Chimo (Lauren), Peter Friedman (James), Deirdre O'Connell (Marty) and Heidi Schreck (Theresa).

[5] It received its European premiere in a Royal Court Theatre production at the Rose Lipman Building in De Beauvoir Town, London from 5 July to 3 August 2013, directed by James Macdonald and with a cast consisting of Toby Jones (Schultz), Imelda Staunton (Marty), Shannon Tarbet (Lauren), Danny Webb (James) and Fenella Woolgar (Theresa).

I knew I wanted the characters to deliver monologues as each other....Eventually I realized that the fun of the play is the fact that it's confined to this dull, windowless little space.

"[12] The New York Times reviewer called the play "absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny" and wrote: "The artificiality of the acting games just emphasizes the naturalness of the characters’ real lives and feelings.

I found myself admiring Baker's sensitivity while hungering for a bit more theatrical attack... All this emerges with a good deal of subtlety through the students' enactment of each other's situations.