Fully Committed .


Friday 17th March


This show was on quite late, and the uni grounds were more deserted than I would have liked, but I am glad I got to see this performance. This audience was hard to define. No obvious age group and mixed gender, with the theatre probably two thirds full. This was a one man show performed by Rob Macpherson, playing an out of work actor taking phone reservations at an expensive restaurant in Manhattan. The only props on stage were a computer, a red ‘car’ phone, an intercom system, a desk and chair and a coffee machine. It was interesting to note that both the computer and the coffee machine appeared to be switched on and in use rather than just dummy props. I wondered why that would be.

The pace was frantic, stressful to watch, yet exhilarating. The talent of this man was amazing. Never was there a time when the audience couldn’t ‘see’ who he was portraying. I asked myself how me managed this. He utilised voice of course, but it was so much more than that. His facial gestures, his mannerisms, the tone, pitch and strength of his voice and of course the wacky accents all contributed to our belief that we were actually watching many different characters. The use of a special ‘car’ phone for calls from The Chef, and intercom for discussions with the in house staff and a regular phone or headset for outside calls helped to clarify all this in the early stages, but became unnecessary as we began to get to know the character’s voices and mannerisms.

Sam started the performance as a downtrodden individual, letting people walk all over him. The eccentric ‘Chef’ got him to clean out the ladies toilets when no-one else was available, then kept referring back to him doing it during the show to demonstrate his power over him. His ‘friend’, a fellow out of work actor, kept calling him to tell him that he got a call back for an audition for a part that Sam had tried out for too, knowing Sam didn’t get called back. He patronised him by insincerely telling him how sure he is that Sam will still get a call back. His agent didn’t have time for him as she was too busy dealing with her bigger or more successful clients. His brother tried to push responsibility for entertaining their father on Christmas day onto him, and his co-worker betrayed him by pretending his car had broken down when really he was going for an interview for another job, leaving Sam to look after the phones alone. The customers talked down to him and tried to push him around and the kitchen forgot about sending up his lunch.

But in the classic style of someone being pushed too far, Sam took it all for only so long and finally fought back. He used a customer to get in favour with the stage director of The Lincoln Centre, which won him the part he so badly wanted. This, inturn, changed his influence with his agent, and gave him the opportunity to ‘bite back’ on his ‘friends’ answering machine. The Maitre d’ begged him to perform in the restaurant for an important customer and Sam kept him hanging on just long enough to profit handsomely from the arrangement. The discovery of the betrayal of his co-worker, and subsequent threats to tell the boss, allowed him to swap shifts on Christmas day so he could be with his father, and finally he stood up to the egomaniacal chef and told him one of his dishes was only ‘okay, not his best’. This changed the power balance between them as the chef could not cope with Sam telling him this.

Sam left the stage at the end of the show walking on sunshine and whistling a song. He had deftly taken control of his life and how people treat him. It was a very clever performance both in the skill of the actor and the direction of the performance. I left the theatre with a feeling of justice having been done.