Not All Food is for Eating

It hasn’t been a great month in the fight against racism in Australia with the appalling story of Mr Ward’s scorched death in custody playing on the minds of many. Miriam and the Monkfish, a satirical play on my own favourite topic (food) sounded like respite from the issues of the day, but ended up being a reminder. Watching Sophie Kelly’s character Miriam embark on a live (and somewhat nauseating) culinary catastrophe in a makeshift kitchen was made all the more difficult to ride along with by her casual eastern-suburbs racism (Michelle Obama “might be black, but she is disciplined”), fat-phobia (Donna Hay’s “enormous”) and twee Turnbull-loving Liberalism.

That said, Kelly’s well-delivered monologue co-written by Tessa King, does have its moments. Bravo to the julienning of the values of the chardonnay socialist set. Hurrah to the clever cleaving of contemporary diet trends (“I pride myself on being completely carb-neutral”); and touché to the mirror held up to our almost religious fervour over contemporary cooking shows. My name is Jackie and I am a MasterChef addict.

The frisky Miriam does for cooking what Clare ‘Chk-Chk Boom’ Werbeloff did for media reporting – so if you found that funny, you’ll probably enjoy this play. Kelly has great stagecraft and deals with a wide variety of difficult props during her long monologue, extending to fish-bashing, sadomasochism and simulated masturbation. I confess to fantasizing about a little chk-chk boom myself for most of the hour, but in the end Kelly won me with the pathos of Miriam’s bulimic period. It’s hard not to soften as you watch Miriam deteriorate into scoffing fettuccine from the rubbish bin and licking melted chocolate from a chopping board that’s already carried raw sausage, uncooked scallops and fish. Will Miriam survive the season, or will it be Tables for her?

Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo until 26th June, 2009 www.rocksurfers.org