Review: THE FOOD BANK SHOW, Camden People’s Theatre

Plays that fully resist the insulation of the theatre space don’t come often. There’s a tendency, sometimes, with your average liberal theatregoers, to consider attending a socially motivated theatre show as a profound act of resistance. We usually sit together, nodding our heads in unison, while an actor condemns the latest horrid cruelty perpetrated by the government towards the most vulnerable members of society; mostly unaware of the irony that comes with the whole situation.

Sam Rees’s The Food Bank Show is very aware of all the limitations of his viewership. He marries political philosophy and underground mobilisation with extensive journalistic research and humanity to provide a collaborative production that defies the rules of the genre. It’s a sophisticated invective in the form of a one-man show, a direct indictment of the failures of modern civilisation. He doesn’t offer much hope or easy way-outs; he doubles down on governmental shortcomings with a grim point of view.

He’s magnetic. Joined on stage by Mo Pittaway and their live illustrations, the heavy content remains somewhat light. The writing is unforgiving and opinionated, but unashamed to crack a bleak joke to keep the audience on their toes at the same time. Pizza is handed out at the start while the team involve the public with different pretexts, setting up the dialogue (that will take the shape of quiz questions later on) between the two sides of the proscenium. All the fun and games are in place to smooth out the harrowing material that builds the project. 

Underneath the cheerless banter, his discussion is angry and merciless, politically charged but emotionally intelligent and rousing in its brash delivery. Precise stats and verbatim conversation with a range of professionals and people who endure food insecurity are wrapped up in a passionate and regularly confidently poetic excursus on where we’re going wrong as a a nation. It’s a show that rejects the idea of escape and firmly lives inside its context. The Jacob Rees-Mogg slander and other jabs at the known players in the scene get their fair dose of snickers from the crowd, but the focus is very much on Rees’s experience when he was researching the piece. 

In a short hour, the writer and performer addresses head-on what experts and authorities tiptoe around sitting on plush chairs in televised debates or broadsheets. Rees’s vital commentary manages to maintain a frank candour, avoiding any preachiness and scorn against the punters. It’s a personable, darkly sarcastic, alarming play that puts into perspective how ultimately unnecessary all the hyper-produced and extortionately priced West End shows located just down the road are. We hope it will have further life.

The Food Bank Show runs at Camden People's Theatre until 2 November.

Photo credit: Ella Dale

You can find some resources below in case if you or anyone you know are struggling with the themes depicted in the show.

Trussell Trust https://www.trussell.org.uk/

Right to Food Campaign https://www.ianbyrne.org/righttofood

Sustain https://www.sustainweb.org/

Food Not Bombs http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/

 

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