Stage Review - An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf (Saltfire Theatre)

Stage Review - An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf
Presented By: Saltfire Theatre - Port Townsend, WA
Show Run: November 08 - November 24, 2024
Date Reviewed: Thursday, November 08, 2024 (Opening Night)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf. The title of Michael Hollinger’s 2003 play, labeled a “comic tragedy in seven courses” sure is a mouthful, and so is the play itself. In the play, journalist and aspiring Ernest Hemingway devotee Victor has purchased the Parisian Café du Grand Boeuf (in Hemingway fashion), keeping it open only for him, the wait staff solely at his beck and call and eagerly awaiting his next visit with his usual guest, Madame Louise. The group, Maitre’d Claude, Chef Gaston, Waitress Mimi, and Waiter-in-Training Antoine, prides itself on its preparation, on being ready for Victor’s arrival, but when he storms into the restaurant having returned from the bullfights in Madrid and not from Milan as everyone expected, and even more shockingly alone, without his Madame, and in an overtly sullen mood, the staff is even more concerned. But what throws the entire restaurant into chaos is when Victor, who usually sits down to a seven course meal, not only refuses to eat, claims that he has decided to starve himself to death. What follows is a play that is an absurdly funny and ironic, a well written and introspective study in love, loss, and what it means to find meaning in a life in which it seems like everything is lost. Saltfire Theatre, the Port Townsend based company that is a product of the pandemic, has chosen “An Empty Plate” as the latest show in its ongoing partnership with Vintage at Port Townsend Vineyard, in a production that is directed by Maude Eisele and Genevieve Barlow and runs on stage through November 24.

There’s something about staging a certain type of play in a non-traditional theatre space. Vintage is most certainly non-traditional, and the pairing of “An Empty Plate” with a venue where audience members can relax at a table with hors d'oeuvres and a glass of wine while they take in this piece just seems sort of perfect. It’s an intimate setting, so be prepared to get to know your neighbor, and also do your best to get there early to keep your seat choice options open, though to be frank, there’s not really a bad view, Gina Bonneau’s set is raised enough so that everyone has a good sightline and it’s minimally designed, with just enough to support the storytelling, a table for Victor to sit at with his empty plate, doors back to the kitchen, and a serving table upstage from the dining area. It’s just the right size for the space and co-directors Maude and Genevieve understand the confines in which they’re working to produce the humor and the emotion that the play evokes, and there’s a lot of both. It’s a well written piece, and if I had to describe it with one word, I’d call it literary, which makes sense considering Victor’s love for all things Hemingway. He speaks in the words of the author, and his diction and delivery is as if he’s reading from a novel, even when he’s not quoting “Papa” or dictating his own epitaph to his self-appointed scribe, and newcomer to the restaurant, Antoine. Each character is written smartly and each scene, regardless of how funny it is, is constructed in layers with the humor belying something else below the surface, whether it be Victor’s loneliness, or Mimi’s heartbreak at the lack of attention from husband Claude. The coup de gras, from a writing perspective, though, has to be VIctor’s recounting of his experience at the Plaza de Toro (bullfight) in Spain, which precipitated his emotional spiral, where everything started to go wrong with Louise. This scene is so graphic in its detail of a bullfight, so emotional in its description that if you love the longstanding, but thankfully fading, tradition, you’ll appreciate to voracity of the language and the imagery of it, and if you have come to despise the act as gruesome and torturous, it’ll surely make your blood boil at Victor’s recounting of the emotions around his experience there. Either way, and regardless of your stance on bullfighting itself, there is so much to appreciate about the writing of this scene, and there’s even more to appreciate about Erik Van Beuzekom’s delivery of it as Victor, supported by Kirsten Louise Webb’s contribution in sound for this scene.

Frankly, there’s a lot to appreciate about Erik’s performance throughout. His Victor is the focus of the play, and as such all eyes are on him as is the lion’s share of the dialogue. Erik delivers Hollinger’s lines exquisitely, capturing precisely that literary quality that the author depicts in this characters diction, and with a command and tenacity that is demanding of the audience’s attention. Erik creates a stage presence here, more than what was designed in the character, he engages not just with the restaurant staff, but with the audience as well, taking full advantage of the intimate setting at Vintage, and while, no, Victor isn’t Hemingway, sometimes Erik makes one truly wonder if we’re not seeing Ernest himself on stage. He’s surrounded by a cast of supporting characters, a restaurant staff that are varied in their personalities, and very well cast, each actor portraying his or her charge in just the right way to draw the proper emotion out, whether it be a laugh, or a gasp, or a sigh. Maitre’d Claude, married to waitress Mimi and played by Scott Bahlmann, is the one most put out by Victor’s step outside of the norm. Claude is there to serve and doesn’t know what to do if he can’t. He’s so obsessed with fulfilling his job that he comes up with a creative idea to still serve Victor, while honoring his boss’ request not to eat. It’s an absurd idea, but in these things, sometimes the most absurd things are the things that make the most sense. Scott’s work as Claude is excellent. His descent emotionally from the calm and steady manager of the festivities to someone trying to organize the end of the world is extremely fun to watch, and his interactions with the rest of the staff are quite good. Mimi, on the other hand, played by Laura Cornell, is frustrated with Claude and what she feels are his mixed up priorities, his job first, her second. There’s a loyalty that she has to her job and to Claude, of course, but at the same time, underneath is a longing for a different life, one of adventure, of travel, and of frankly anything different than her current one. Laura manages this layered character very well, delivering the right mix of humor, focus, and longing. One who doesn’t long for another life is Chef Gaston, played by Doug Caskey. By far the most humorous of all of the characters, Doug is spot on with his delivery and his version of the chef that just wants to cook anything and everything and serve it, and can’t understand at all why someone wouldn’t want to eat what he creates. Gaston has some of the funniest lines in the show, and Doug’s timing is impeccable, the character’s humor the perfect balance to the overall seriousness of Victor’s situation. Rounding out the restaurant staff is Kait Tapia as new waiter Antoine. Antoine is nervous, clearly feeling the pressure of the situation, but when Victor enlists him to take notes for his last story, Antoine becomes a central figure in helping to drive some of the key points in the play. Kait is consistent in Antoine’s delivery and mannerisms and at no time shows any crack in the nervousness that seems to be almost debilitating.

Hollinger has constructed the story so that we learn more about each of these characters as the play progresses, and while yes, this is Victor’s story, by the end, the audience does feel that they really know this group. A few final notes on the creative side of the show, to give credit to Sarah Walker Henry who is responsible for props and costume designer Lilly Gulden. With such a small space to work, Sarah has outfitted the show with props that are purposeful and right sized for the space. There is a tendency to go too big, especially in an intimate setting such as Vintage, or when someone is used to working in a bigger venue, or when being asked to design something from scratch, but that’s not the case here. Sarah has done a nice job in tandem with set designer Gina Bonneau to bring a French restaurant on to (and I’m guessing here) and 8’x8’ stage. And Lilly’s costume work is very solid, Victor looks like an author, like he’s trying to be formal but he’s a bit disheveled, the staff is well outfitted, and Mimi looks like she could very well be French. Well done all around.

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf is an interesting one to try and describe. It’s a tragedy, wrapped in a comedy, sort of about food, but with no food. No matter how you slice it, when you do boil it down (points for trying?), “An Empty Plate”, by playwright Michael Hollinger, will make you laugh, while also asking you to contemplate what you would do if your entire world was falling apart. The Saltfire Theatre production is presented at Vintage in Port Townsend, perhaps the perfect place to take this in, where you can relax with a glass of wine and see a play that is well written and superbly performed.

The Saltfire Theatre production of An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf runs on stage at Vintage by Port Townsend Vineyards through November 24. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://saltfiretheatre.org/index.html. Note that the show runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

Photo credit: Richard Sloane