As the Chinese saying goes, ‘Food is the God of the people’. To survive, we need to eat; this is a well-known fact. However, have we ever given any thought about where our daily food comes from and how we should prepare and enjoy it? Geoff Sobelle, an American actor, director and creator seek to blend interactive theatre with monologue to explore the complex love-hate relationship between humans and food in intimate setting.
Premiered in 2022, Food is the last of Sobelle’s trilogy of works that explores the uncommon-ness of common themes, following The Object Lesson (premiered in 2013) and HOME (premiered in 2017). All three productions transport the audience into an everyday space (from a large storage warehouse, a house for living in, to a dining table). There, they share their experiences and emotions where exploring various theatrical techniques, triggering reflection on the play’s key themes.
The stage design seats the audience on three sides of a spacious central square platform. Covered with a white tablecloth, the platform is set up as a large dining table for the first half of the performance. The audience who bought tickets to seat at the table becomes the show’s guests of honour. Guided by Sobelle, who takes on the role of a waiter, some of them are invited to share their emotions and experiences related to various types of food as they engage in the process of ordering and ‘dining’. Although food is the title of the show, only a very small amount of real food is served for the audience to ‘savour’, and even its preparation and delivery in the show is more akin to comedy than real action.
In the second half of the performance, the focus returns to Sobelle, and the form changes from light-hearted, spontaneous interaction to a one-man play without dialogue; the overall atmosphere slowly goes from playful to dark and violent as the lights and installations transform. The food in the play has the appearance of explosives ready to blow up the theatre, becoming a tool to evoke the audience’s emotions. The use of a variety of props and stage machinery add a magical touch, infusing the play – originally focused on food production and consumerism, as well as urbanisation and serious thoughts on food – with a sense of charming absurdity.
Food has been put on stage in different countries and regions over the past few years. Each time the show tours to a new region, the creator incorporates local elements, including references to the regional culinary culture and the introduction of local specialties. In the coming performance in Macao, will there be a Portuguese Bacalhau (salted codfish), or freshly baked custard tarts and pork chop buns?
By William Chan Wai-yam
A veteran arts critic and media producer. He has received an MFA degree in Media Design & Technology and a double MA degree in International Performance Research. He has worked as a project manager for the “Archive and Oral History Project on Hong Kong Drama (Phase 1)” in 2015-17 and the editor of Dance Journal in 2019-21. He is now served as the Lecturer (Practice-based Research) at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
This article is translated from Chinese.