Can you recall the most decadent meal you’ve ever had? It was probably for a special occasion, right? Well what about the end of the world, what does one eat at a feast while the Earth crumbles around them? Guillermo Verdecchia’s Feast is just that, morsel after delicious morsel of poignant dialogue and intriguing storytelling. Directed by Soheil Parsa, Feast is a cutting look at our utilization of the world around us. However, the question remains: will your appetite be fully satisfied, or left wanting more?

Mark, who flies all over the world for work and has for a long time, suddenly finds himself untethered and lost. He’s usually only lured out of his hotels or conference room by the siren call of Starbucks. Suddenly, he finds himself jet-setting for pleasure; but not just any pleasure, to indulge in the worlds most exotic and dangerous foods. While on his travels in Nigeria, Mark meets Chukuemeka, a bar owner and “fixer” who enables Mark’s newfound love of rare food. Mark’s wife Julia, an accomplished lawyer, begins to fortify the couples home after a flood ravages their basement. She does so with the vigour of the truly inspired and terrified. Their daughter, Isabel, is a star swimmer on her University’s swim team. Yet faced with a crushing sense of dread and the overwhelming knowledge that the future is uncertain to say the least, she knows she has to make drastic changes to her life. Verdecchia is written a variable smorgasbord of ideas; each scene focusing on a different character in a different stage of being so that the audience gets just a tiny taste of what their lives are becoming.

The only person missing from Verdecchia’s text is their son, Xavi. He’s mentioned throughout the text and yet we never meet him; he’s always just left, or not at home, or not that person’s problem. Unseen yet somehow ever-present, it left me wondering how he fits into this family and why no one seems to be able to keep track of him. Is he the ingredient which would complete the family? Or is he the rat abandoning the sinking ship?

With a globe-spanning text, Kaitlin Hickey’s set and projection design elements become our map. The massive sliding doors, illuminated backdrop, and projection screen allow for the audience to use their imagination while still having the essential visuals of the play. Ting – Huan 挺歡 Christine Urquhart’s costume design, and especially how those costumes shift throughout the play, are so emblematic of the wearer.

Serving up this Feast are four deliciously talented performers. Rick Roberts stars as Mark; his soliloquy about the feast he partakes in had me absolutely rapt. Roberts initially gives Mark this kind of oh-shucks Dad vibes which slowly transform as he gives over to his cravings. Tamsin Kelsey’s Julia is clearly the no-nonsense chef of the house. Kelsey’s ferocity gets to shine in this role, and Julia’s cutthroat nature eventually shows it full force. Veronica Hortigüela is able to show her comedic and dramatic abilities in Feast, playing several side characters as well as the overwhelmed Isabel. Her physicality in the minor roles totally transforms her, while Isabel’s despair over the state of the world is certainly a feeling most of us share. Tawaih M’Carthy’s character Chukuemeka initially feels like he might be the saving grace of the story, and M’Carthy gives him an openness and kindness which makes him immediately amenable. It’s not until later that we see a darker side which M’Carthy seems to equally revel in.

Feast is a story of consumption: food, resources, land, ourselves, and other people. And what it is to feel consumed by the planet you are used to subsisting off of. The final vignettes of the play all have a sense of foreboding; the worst is yet to come, will they see it in time? What will be their punishment for taking as much as they have? What will be ours?

Feast runs in the Tarragon Mainspace until April 27. For more information and tickets, visit: https://tarragontheatre.com/plays/2024-2025/upcoming/feast/

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Cover Photo: Tamsin Kelsey and Rick Roberts. Photo by Jae Yang.

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