Restaurants are just like the theatre, says Robert Colman,=20 whose latest play is all about eating. Matthew Krouse=20
AS a two-year work-in-progress reaches fruition, Robert=20 Colman — author and director of Afrodizzia, at the=20 Johannesburg Civic Theatre — reflects on the times and=20 traumas that formed his fantastical farce about food.
The idea of setting a play in a restaurant came to Colman=20 when, as a young, out-of-work-actor, he was forced to get a=20 job as a waiter.=20
“I realised how similar restaurants are to the theatre:=20 they’re all about illusion. There’s a backstage, which is=20 the kitchen, and a stage which is the dining room. The=20 roles the waiters and waitresses play in front of the=20 customers also differ from those they play behind the=20 customer’s backs. There’s a complete status system — the=20 master above the servant, the boss above the waiter, the=20 kitchen staff at the mercy of the chef.”
In 1992 Colman workshopped the play at the Market Theatre=20 Laboratory. Some months later, the Civic Theatre’s=20 development programme came up with New Stages, a season of=20 four staged play readings presented to the public. Colman=20 was invited to participate as a director. “I read about 11=20 new scripts and couldn’t find anything I wanted to direct,=20 so I volunteered to do Afrodizzia.” His play was the only=20 one chosen for full production.
Afrodizzia is a love story — “a universal preoccupation”,=20 says Colman — in which a dishwasher falls in love with a=20 waitress. “The poor dishwasher goes and buys a love muti,=20 and then everything goes wrong.” It’s set in Chez Eric, a=20 once-posh restaurant that has fallen on hard times in the=20 decaying city centre.
Colman’s philosophy, which drives the content, is simple:=20 “Ultimately the play tells us that love (and success) is=20 not created by waving a magic wand. It’s about real people=20 facing a real situation, which is complex.” The play=20 humorously interweaves unusual characters — such as a gay=20 black chef with a great sense of humour, pitted against his=20 sardonic Swiss boss. And the conflicts that arise are=20 inherent to “eating culture”. By showing European eating=20 habits in conflict with African eating habits, perhaps=20 Colman hopes to shed light on human behaviour in general.
While the Swiss emigre hopes to bring European culture to=20 Africa, “the African chef ultimately dreams of opening an=20 African restaurant, to put his highly creative cooking=20 skills to use. Part of his dream is to use leftovers for=20 soup, and to create some kind of soup kitchen at the back=20 of the restaurant.
“The fact that the chef is a gay man is not central to the=20 play. Yet his is a type of character that has not yet been=20 fully identified in local theatre.”
Colman’s play is an extension of previous work. He recently=20 workshopped Bad News for Cowboy Johnnie, a cabaret directed=20 at city sex workers, for the Esselen Street Aids Outreach=20 Clinic. He is also the author of a series of published=20 safer sex comics aimed at the gay community.
As his primary motivation, Colman views his work in the=20 context of city life. “For me, having lived in Johannesburg=20 for all of my life, it’s a wonderful achievement to have=20 written about the city I know so well. Part of the charm of=20 creating art about the place one comes from is in the=20 romanticising and mythologising of the milieu. Through this=20 one reaches a universality, and, hopefully, one also=20 reaches the widest audience possible. This is what has=20 immortalised some of the greatest cities in the world.”
Colman may have progressed from waiting tables to acting,=20 writing and directing — but clearly, he’s still dishing up=20 the goods.
Afrodizzia runs at the Pieter Roos Theatre at the Civic=20 until May 27