Review: Food at His Majesty’s Theatre
Food at His Majesty's Theatre
Saturday, February 24, 2024
In a display that flitted between medium rare and completely undercooked, New York-based performance maker Geoff Seobell starred in the absurdist interactive performance Food on stage at His Majesty’s Theatre. The show was definitively one-of-a-kind and is still up for tasting until Saturday, March 2, as part of Perth Festival 2024.
For the performance, the audience joins Seobell on stage. At the centre of the stage is a gigantic table, which is set for fine dining. As the audience members filed in, a selection of thirty were nominated to take a seat at the table, while the remainder sat behind the diners in temporary stands. Like those at the table, this latter group was also included in the interactive elements of the show, being asked to perform tasks such as pour wine and take orders to the diners.
The show commenced when Sobelle, who had stood quietly downstage as people took their seats, came alive in his role as host and waiter. Resplendent in a waistcoat and apron, Sobelle’s opening monologue flowed poetically in his rich north-east American accent, requesting the audience to close their eyes and follow him on a meditation on food and, after selecting a favourite meal, its personal meaning and origin story.
This early entry into the esoteric was slightly unnerving, as the commands required great trust in its speaker, and as it came at the very beginning of the performance, it was unclear how this fitted into the performance or where it would lead. Such drops into the obscure would occur repeatedly throughout the show, and each time they occurred, the demand of great patience and trust that Soebelle placed on the audience felt abstruse.
Superceding the unnerving opening was a lighthearted act in which Soebelle played the part of a clownish waiter. While there was no clear structure to this act either, Sobelle was playful and invited great intrigue by drawing upon his magician background to fulfil diners' orders. A request for a baked potato is met with Sobelle undertaking the entire farm to table in front of the audience’s watchful eyes. Commencing with the seeds, Soeblle manages to 'grow' the potato before placing it in foil and 'cooking it' via the use of just a candle. And then, with a call of 'hot potato, hot potato', he sent the potato down a line of diners to its expectant order, who, upon unwrapping the foil, released the buildup of steam, showing that the potato is indeed hot and cooked. Fast food, indeed.
Sobelle and the performance's playful manner then entered a far darker space. After collecting the plates of food, kicking off his shoes, and sitting down as if he were all by himself after a long night of work, Sobelle began to gorge on the untouched food. Using sleights of hand and other such trickery, food and wine disappeared at an astounding rate.
This was not an enjoyable, laughable romp, however, and though the magic involved is top-class, the audience was rather made to feel like a voyeur to a debauched spectacle. In what one can assume to be a comment on overconsumption and excess consumerism in our current late-stage capitalist environs, Sobelle’s act is confronting and ultimately uncomfortable.
This uncomfortableness was personified by the actions of a couple who might have had one too many drinks with their pre-show dinner. The two had been rather talkative and animated throughout the performance and had been really hamming it up during the lighthearted section of the show, as if they were being served by Manuel from Barcelona at a comedic dining experience. Confused and unsure how to act as the show took its dark, gluttonous turn, the duo continued to chat and even interact with Sobelle, giving the show a very real sense of drama. The couple’s civil disobedience ended when one and then the other chose to leave midway through the show, but the feeling remained.
This long-winded and dark middle section was then resolved, with Sobelle emerging from his stupor and ripping off the dining cloth, including all plates and cutlery upon it, from the table to reveal a bed of sand. Upon the sand, a journey of humankind’s evolution alongside food played out, as at first toy bovines appeared and magically multiplied, before trucks, oil rigs, and buildings began to appear across the landscape with help from Sobelle. While undoubtedly clever and also connected to the theme of food, this act, like the ones before, felt completely isolated and on its own.
Like another one of Perth Festival's 2024 shows, Are We Not Drawn, Food asks its audience to witness the destruction and overconsumption that humans are inflicting upon planet Earth. Rather than provide succinct answers, these two pieces eek out their meaning by reconstructing our patterns of behaviour and making the audience watch them.
By turning the audience from an active participant to a voyeur, they are asked to evaluate what they are seeing, and such contemplation is the genesis of hope for change in the future. As a result, Food was not just a theatrical experience but also a thought-provoking commentary on our relationship with food, consumer habits, and the impact on the environment. While uncomfortable at times and perhaps lacking in structure, the performance has to be praised for its boundless and original creativity.
MICHAEL HOLLICK
Photos by Maria Baranova and Iain Masterton
