In the WarBoar Boardgames Café in Bromley, a group of friends meet every Thursday to play Dungeons and Dragons. They are sixteen-year-old Jess (still at school), who is leading the game as the Dungeon Master, and her late brother Matt’s friends, both now 21, who went to the same school: trainee solicitor Maryn, playing the game as a wizard, and out-of-work Milo, whose role is warrior princess Wen, last daughter of the Blood-Clan of Dark Moon. They gather around a pentagonal table, above which hangs a blue dragon. Alys Whitehead’s simple setting gives a positive focus to its in-the-round staging.
Their characters are all on a mission to rid their world of the Nightmare King.
The Nightmare King (as they chant), with eyes of flame,
Beware his power, beware his name,
He waits within his cavern deep
To wrap the world in eternal sleep.
If you are not familiar with fantasy games, and if I haven’t lost you already, it is a game where the Dungeon Master guides the story and polyhedral dice are thrown to determine the result of the actions proposed by the players.
My board-game experience never went much further than Ludo and the occasional encounter with Monopoly, and I confess I found this confusing, but, though much of The Habits’ 90 minutes is spent playing the game, the play is about the people, not the game’s quest.
I didn’t see any particular parallel of contrast between the game players and their D&D roles, though how they play shows their real character. For the original participants, the game is a form of mourning for Matt, which for his sister becomes an obsession for reasons revealed later.
Ruby Stokes as Jess is central. She captures both grief and obsession. The older friends are involved to support her, but they have their own problems. Sara Hazemi’s Maryn is exploited at work and the jobs make her compromise her own progressive ideals. She sets up an interview with her firm for Milo, who has applied for 35 jobs in the last month without getting any response. He decides not to attend for ethical reasons. Jamie Bisping gives him the right mix of friendly charm and questionable reliability, and I’m intrigued: was it his choice to play a princess and then become pregnant or was that in the rulebook?
The café’s proprietor, much older Dennis (Paul Thornley), soon joins in the game as bard Grimble and later introduces his new girlfriend, policewoman Bev (Debra Baker). She is no D&D nerd, though Dennis is another D&D obsessive. He keeps a chest full of its costumes and props, but his customers seem to prefer Monopoly these days and he is fed up with running the café, and there is an offer from Cafe Nero. If he accepts it, that could end their sessions, and the fact that Matt was know to Bev through her police work begins to throw more light on what we are learning about Matt and this D&D adventure.
Gamers might find this very engaging, but it didn’t really get through to me. Was the fantasy world supposed to give depth to the human stories? For me, it got in the way until the almost final revelation of the connection, though Ed Madden’s production, with its characters moving around the table to ensure the audience get a view of all of the characters, concentrates attention moment by moment. I have yet to discover why it is titled The Habits!