The story of TV chef Nigel Slater's passion for food, over two hours of spoken narrative broken up with the clash of colourful dance motifs.
Based on Nigel Slater's autobiography and adapted for the stage by Henry Filloux-Bennet, 'Toast' played to a small intimate audience in the Lowry's Quays Theatre for press night with Nigel Slater himself in attendance seated in the centre of the auditorium. Director and Choreographer Jonnie Riordan brought Slater's memories to life with the support of an impressively talented cast of actors; young Nigel is played by Giles Cooper, his Mum by Katy Federman, Dad by Blair Plant, the villian of a stepmother Joan played by Samantha Hopkins and Josh the gardener by Stefan Edwards.
The play begins with Slater's early memories of being in the kitchen with his mother, baking he admits was something she did to entertain him. It becomes apparent that his mother is ill and her health deteriorates during the first act. It was just before a highly poignant moment about her illness that sweets were passed through the auditorium, in bright pink and white striped bags, theatre ushers brightly passed out the bags and encouraged people to pass them along, audience members brightly chirped to one another about what sweets they had attained and unfurled loudly the plastic packaging as the mother character staggered off stage in tears in her delicate state to hardly any attention from the audience. I wondered if this was meant to reflect a child-like understanding of dealing with loss, but was too distracted by the ongoing rustling of sweet wrappers around me.
Later in the production Walnut Whips were handed around and the audience were encouraged to all open and devour them at the same moment Slater's father enjoyed his with partner Joan in a sexualised manner. The squeaks of that shiny iconic blue foil-like texture by over a hundred people at once was excruciating, like nails on a chalk board or cotton wool on teeth.
Cooper gave a strong performance throughout, delivering an almost monologue type account of a child's perspective of family life, there was much use of direct delivery to the audience. So much in fact was delivered to the audience that there were many moments I missed and wanted to see more of. Events would happen, like his mother's failing health or an argument with another family member and the moment would be abruptly ended by Nigel directing his attention to the audience or to throwing himself into his cooking. This felt jarring to me and took me out of the moments. It felt like a young child's telling of events, this happened and then that happened, I would have been happier to stay with certain moments longer and enjoy seeing the relationships play out in scenes.
To end on a positive note, I really enjoyed the choreography, throughout the play the actors dance around one another, manipulated each others movements with a physical theatre aesthetic. Such as the scene where Slater's father pushes a plate and cutlery around young Nigel forcefully making him eat a fried egg. These built up to more stylised dance scenes to well known songs that had the audience singing along, such as 'La Mer' when Nigel danced on the table tops with his mother and 'Psycho-Killer' by Talking Heads as he waged culinary war with stepmother Joan. The dances were simple but the actors crossing one another, turning and striking strong poses brought an energy to the piece that was enjoyable to watch and a relief from the constant narration.
Reviewer - Kerry Ely
on - 11/11/19
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