Theatre review: Farm to Fable dishes up warmth and comfort via Zoom
Meaghan Chenosky is an affable chef and aspiring restaurateur in writer-director Amiel Gladstone’s new comical play
Meaghan Chenosky plays Nadine, a chef and aspiring restaurateur, in Farm to Fable. Photo by Cameron Anderson
The Cultch presents Farm to Fable until November 21 via Zoom.
THERE ARE ONLINE cooking shows, and then there are online cooking shows that form the basis of an endearing, comical one-woman play serving up comfort food with heart and soul.
In writer-director Amiel Gladstone’s light-hearted Farm to Fable, actor Meaghan Chenosky’s Nadine is an affable chef whose dream of opening a restaurant is thwarted by the pandemic and whose relationship with her boyfriend has crumbled. She’s moved back in with her mom, and in a COVID pivot, decides to give a Zoom cooking show a go.
Set in a spotless Ikea-style kitchen with a vase of orange gerberas on the counter and a cupboard full of her mother’s wine, the inaugural episode features a recipe Nadine selected based on her Polish upbringing… Tortilla soup.
That’s a joke, she says, noting it’s hard to tell if anyone in the audience is laughing, given that viewers are all on mute. But that’s where the fun starts, with Chenosky occasionally interacting with ticket holders who have opted to leave their video camera on. (There were a couple of notable Vancouver chefs in the audience on opening night, including Vikram Vij.)
Chenosky also plays Nadine’s Lionel Messi-loving mom—who obliviously and hilariously walks right in front of the camera more than once during Nadine’s debut—as well as her brother, her ex-boyfriend, and a repair person. There are three camera angles, including one directly over the gas stove, so we can see the soup as it’s being made, from the sizzling onions to the bubbling final dish with black beans and fire-roasted tomatoes.
In the top half of Farm to Fable, the pacing feels a bit slow at times, like when you’re at a restaurant and the delay between the appetizer and main course seems too long. But that’s a quibble, with the play touching on the fear, confusion, and loneliness that the pandemic brought on. Poetry deepens the show’s flavour, and when Nadine shares the real motivation behind her wanting to open a restaurant, we’re reminded of the way food brings people together and can fill far more than their bellies.
Audience members can interact with Nadine and with each other via the chat bar, and as opening night came to a close, as a few more people clicked on their cameras, the Zoom show had turned into a virtual dance party. With the unpredictability of what viewers will share with their host on any given night, no two performances will be the same. And with Chenosky making Nadine so immensely likeable, this is a cooking show you could happily tune into more than once.
Meaghan Chenosky also plays lead character Nadine’s mom in Farm to Fable. Photo by Cameron Anderson
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