Cooking show

>> Food is appropriately fluffy dinner theatre

by AMY BARRATT

We came. We saw. We ate octopus.

It was not your average night at the theatre.

Even if you remember the heyday of dinner theatre in this city in the mid-'80s, you've probably never experienced anything like Food/ Bouffe, the play and gourmet dinner currently being served up by infinitheatre and the Montreal High Lights Festival.

I won't say much about the food because a) I'm not a food critic and b) the performance I saw, catered by out-of-this-world and certainly out of my price-range restaurant Milos, was a one-night stand in the Greek Temple of gastronomy. Subsequent performances were to be catered by other fine restaurants (see end of article for details on remaining nights).

The play, by food critic Byron Ayanoglu is, appropriately, about cooking. World-renowned chef Amadeus Blackburn (Brett Watson) is scheduled to appear on a television cooking show, hosted by the flamboyant Madame Circé, to prepare his pièce de resistance. Millions of viewers are supposedly watching live via TV and the Internet.

Visually, this production is a treat. Set and lighting designer Jean-Charles Martel has perfectly simulated the look and feel of a TV studio and a cooking program. Expensive, glittering cookware hangs on metal grids surrounding the counter where the chef goes to work, with Madame panting over his shoulder. The audience can also view the proceedings on half a dozen monitors where live images supplied by two videographers are mixed by technical director Normand Vincent. The close-ups of hands at work, the superimposition of close-ups over long shots made it look uncannily like a real cooking show.

The play itself is a bit of fluff, but that's okay for dinner theatre. Unfortunately, director Guy Sprung has erred quite seriously in casting. Brett Watson is a talented young actor but he's just too young to be plausible as one of the world's greatest chefs. The cooking world has a very strict hierarchy where even geniuses have to begin as potato peelers. He simply would not have been able to climb so high so quickly. As well, his British accent is barely passable.

Emanuelle Jimenez in the role of the host has her hands tied by a severely under-written role. Food is really a monologue for the chef interspersed with "oohs" and "aahs" from Madame. Jimenez compensates for her lack of dialogue with all kinds of physical business that only succeeds in pulling focus from Watson and making it difficult to follow the thread of his story.

The chef gradually breaks down over the course of the evening as he recalls losing the great love of his life--a sous-chef named Lola--in a dispute over when to add the garlic.

The "plot twist" at the end is far too predictable, not to mention implausible, even for dinner theatre.

There are two English and two French performances remaining, all featuring French cuisine. The French shows on Feb. 16-17 will be followed by a meal from Restaurant Au Petit Extra. The same restaurant caters the English language performance on Feb. 18. Tonight (Feb. 15), the show's in English and the meal is from Le Passe-Partout.

I got tender grilled octopus with peppers followed by Arctic char. This weekend's patrons can expect to be served shrimp bisque or rabbit pie with bay-leaf juice. Bon appétit!

Food/Bouffe, at the Lion D'Or until Feb. 18, show 7pm, dinner 8pm; Dinner and show $75, show only (limited availability) $20