“A Dinner Party in Poor
Taste” **
By Elyse Orecchio (guest reviewer)
The only thing worse than participating in immersive theatre is
watching it (imagine viewing Sleep No More from the bleachers). At
Radiohole’s immersive dinner party Now Serving, at The Collapsable [sic]
Hole, audience members who are not eating a four-course meal at the table
watch, for half-price, from a seat in the “peanut gallery”—and basically miss
everything.
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| Photos courtesy of Now Serving. |
Having sat in the gallery, I’m not equipped to adequately share
the true dinner party experience. Without having experienced food hurled at me,
the taste of the red soup from the conveyor belt, or being able to identify the
meat from afar, the true takeaways (takeouts?) from Now Serving were
lost on me. What I saw were avant-garde performers Amanda Bender, Erin
Douglass, Eric Dyer, and Maggie Hoffman drinking wine out of IV bags and
tossing their food about, leaving the dining room looking like Times Square at
12:05 a.m. on January 1st. 
In the show’s promotional materials, pastry chef Kristin
Worrall is touted for providing the dessert, but, sadly, I cannot tell you what
it was or how it tasted. Reviewers normally get the full experience at shows
of this nature. Now Serving, however, had bare cupboards for this one.
Not that your gallery ticket gets you nothing. For just $25, the
drinks are unlimited before the show begins (so get there early, kids!), and
there’s beer, popcorn, and even vegan hot dogs available as you watch the
dinner party. That actually makes for a pretty cheap night out in New York
City, and Now Serving will, if nothing else, make for a conversation
piece after you leave. 
But to truly create a novel, satisfying experience for everyone,
Radiohole would be wise to cut the gallery seating and perhaps charge more for
a ticket at the table. While there are moments of amusement and some lovely
violin accompaniment, courtesy of Katherine McRae, substance is not on the
menu.
I suppose the show is supposed to be about taking down the patriarchy (as evidenced by the murder of Pepe The Frog) and the show’s opening and closing with a vagina reference. But there’s not much of a script and it’s difficult to make sense of the sparse dialogue. What’s promised as a guide to etiquette is little more than a guide to spectacle.
I suppose the show is supposed to be about taking down the patriarchy (as evidenced by the murder of Pepe The Frog) and the show’s opening and closing with a vagina reference. But there’s not much of a script and it’s difficult to make sense of the sparse dialogue. What’s promised as a guide to etiquette is little more than a guide to spectacle.
The Collapsible Hole
155 Bank St., NYC
Through Nov 16
Elyse Orecchio studied musical theatre at Emerson College, acting at CUNY
Brooklyn College, and English Linguistics & Rhetoric at CUNY Hunter
College. She has worked in nonprofit communications for more than a decade. She
lives in Sunnyside, Queens, with her husband Joe, kids Theo and Melody, and
three cats. eorecchio@gmail.com @elyseorecchio
