📍Omnibus Theatre, London

⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Chris Fung’s new play, which follows a successful run at Edinburgh in 2024, asks how much can one sacrifice to feel at peace and happy in the wake of utter emotional turmoil. Inspired by Buddhist fable, with an evocative design, this show pulsates with intensity from start to finish. It is a feast for the senses, but the messaging sometimes gets lost amongst this interplay with technology.
The Society for New Cuisine follows our protagonist as he attempts to pick up the pieces following the tragic and unexpected death of his wife; this event becomes a catalyst for an emotional breakdown as he struggles with the weight of expectation coming from his family, cultural expectations, and his career. After becoming a widow, getting fired from his job and hitting an emotional rock-bottom, he is compelled to investigate a mysterious ad for money in exchange for bags of blood – could this be the solution to his problems? The Society for New Cuisine is part-horror, part-dystopia, and full of emotional heft as it explores themes of mental health and societal expectation.

Upon walking into the traverse staging of the Omnibus, we are met with scattered debris filling the space: lamps of various shapes and sizes, laptops, chairs, dozens of cables. The effect is immediately overwhelming, combined with an eerie soundscape and hazy fog sitting low in the space, and hints at the messy mind of our protagonist. From just the first moments (a full blackout, with Fung’s opening monologue bouncing around the walls at a full volume; a detached voice) a darkness settled over the audience, luring us into the intense world of this man. In the exposition we learn about his family: an overbearing but caring mother, and an ill father; his job (a lawyer – caving to family pressures); his family’s culture, and his love life as he meets Beth. As the play progresses, bouncing between life events, Fung tells of how Beth dies suddenly in a car accident. This frames the turmoil the character has been feeling, and as Fung describes the imagery of the car crash, there is an intense beauty in the words – the effect in this moment is profoundly moving.

Rupert Hands’ staging perfectly symbolises the struggles of this man – the scattered technology and traverse staging with audience either side creates a manic atmosphere, with key moments framed with significance, and location indicated through the stylised and fairly minimal set pieces. This interplay with technology throughout is compelling; again, it hints at the chaos of his mind as he darts from a laptop to a microphone to a light switch, or becomes tangled amidst the cables, all in the space of a few beats. The use of voice distorters to indicate various characters aided a lot in the world-building of the piece and helped to drive the emotional force. While this innovative use of technology worked in some places, with Fung’s frequent manual operation of sound and lighting, it sometimes distracted from the action on stage and became a barrier for ultimate emotional engagement in the narrative.

Chris Fung is a tour-de-force; he commands the stage completely, managing the emotional pivots of the piece beautifully. Also the playwright of this piece, he is clearly multi-talented. The weaving of Buddhist fable into the story is cleverly executed, and profoundly poetic monologues interspersed throughout the narrative showcase Fung’s capabilities as a writer. The narrative is non-linear, offering small vignettes of memories and insights into this internal monologue, mirroring the visual design in indicating the fractured mind of this man. This structure was engaging and helped to maintain a steady pace, and the ongoing thread of his father’s declining health was moving as it progressed, but ultimately the emotional weight of the piece – the loss of Beth – is a missed emotional blow, as the relationship is underdeveloped in the exposition.

Overall, The Society for New Cuisine has a lot of promise: Chris Fung is an exciting and passionate talent, and I thoroughly look forward to see his development as a writer.

The Society for a New Cuisine plays at the Omnibus Theatre until Saturday 5th April

🎟️Tickets and information: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/the-society-for-new-cuisine/