Happy Meal | The Rechabite | 9-11 February | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
There’s something very soothing about walking into a performance space and being greeted by an incredibly enthusiastic penguin. That’s how the play Happy Meal begins, with two penguins hanging out on stage, one gregarious and enthusiastic, the other sheepishly hanging out in the background.
As the audience slowly filled the seats at The Rechabite the slightly excitable penguin waved to people to the theatre attendees, practiced the dance from The Macarena, and occasionally tried to fly – albeit unsuccessfully.
Once the action is underway, we follow a story of two young people who are getting to know each other online. They’ve never met in person but are slowly sharing more and more about their lives. With each stage of the story the technology they are using moves to the next generation taking us back to the days of messenger apps and into the world of social media.
The stage is filled with two speech bubble boxes which each character inhabits, while clever use of projection creates an interesting layer of complexity.
The story they share is a simple one, with themes of gender and sexuality, but it’s an engaging experience because the two performers are simply captivating. Sam Crera and Tabby Lamb created the show and also perform it.
They deliver rapid fire dialogue and bounce off each other like a game of Olympic level ping-pong. Their story takes the audience on a sweet and heartfelt journey, that while filled with emotional touch points, cleverly avoids cliche and overwrought moments.
What is incredibly refreshing about the production is it’s a feel-good story about gender identity, sharing a much-needed message of positivity as the culture wars over transgender and non-binary people’s lives ramp up into overdrive. Hapy Meal takes you to happy place.
The show’s short run in Perth as part of the Perth Festival follows a successful tour of regional Western Australia with performances in Geraldton and Bunbury.
Graeme Watson
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