FOOD review: Clowning, freaky eating and a little history in quirky Perth Festival show from Geoff Sobelle

Restaurants make for great theatre. Everyone in them is playing a role. From the customer poring over the menu, to the waiter dramatically pouring the wine - they are parts most of us have played, or at least watched at close quarters. And so when the audience files into Geoff Sobelle’s one-man show FOOD, there is an element of familiarity. A large table is set as if for a dinner party: white tablecloth, wine glasses and plates. Selected audience members take their place at the table, while everyone else sits in the surrounding tiered seating looking down upon them. Soft jazz is playing, and the room takes on the convivial, friendly atmosphere of a busy restaurant. But if anyone was expecting a night of polite dinner party chat, a predicable evening of food and conversation, they were in for a surprise. Sobelle brings the audience to attention, initially in a casual tone, continuing the relaxed vibe of a friendly waiter but suddenly, there is a shift. The lights dim, the crowd hushes and with a hypnotising monologue, Sobelle sets the scene for a journey through our personal relationship with food, the pretences and theatrics of restaurant dining, and a brief history of food production. It’s a taste of what’s to come in the sense that throughout FOOD, Sobelle shifts tone from light-hearted comedy, to his own brand of “sublime absurd” clowning to visually captivating object theatre. Assisted by excellent sound production, Sobelle continually veers the show into unexpected directions. He is a ringmaster, magician, clown and waiter - you’re never quite sure what’s going to be served up next. Like any good dinner party, the guests can make or break the evening. Sobelle stalks the table with a microphone, handing guests talking prompts to expound on a memory sparked by the smell of wine or a dish that feels like home. In Sobelle’s own description of FOOD, the third in a trilogy of performance words following The Object Lesson and HOME, he writes: “There is always an element of chance in these works, and - admittedly - some nights are more interesting than others.” Just like any good dinner party, parts of FOOD will only be as good as the crowd at the table. It gives the show, which already veers in many unusual directions, an additional element of surprise. But just as you are getting comfortable, and are perhaps in danger of beginning to stroke your chin and start to think a little too deeply about the societal mechanisms of the dinner party and restaurant culture, Sobelle brings us all back to earth by rapidly reminding us he is in fact a clown who can do very weird stuff. And because this is a show about food, he does weird things with food. Unexpected, shocking, a little gross but, admittedly, strangely captivating, things with food. Just as things start to feel in danger of sliding into freak show territory, Sobelle again shifts gears. He destroys the dinner party and takes the audience on a visual history of food production - cue more potential chin stroking. Sobelle is a charismatic performer, and FOOD is perhaps one of the quirkiest shows you will see at Perth Festival this year. It may or may not prompt deep revelations about our relationship with food, it may or may not make you look at celery a little differently. One thing is certain - it will give you plenty to talk about at your next dinner party. 3.5 stars FOOD is at His Majesty’s Theatre until March 2. Tickets from perthfestival.com.au.