THE idea of performing a play in a restaurant, where actors sit at tables alongside normal customers, could scare a few hospitality operators.
THE idea of performing a play in a restaurant, where actors sit at tables alongside normal customers, could scare a few hospitality operators.
But according to lawyer turned playwright and director, Ross Lonnie, restaurateurs wholeheartedly embraced the idea when he was scouting for venues to host the first Perth tour of his play, Fancy Fare.
The owners of Chez Pierre, Clancy's Fish Pub, Mead's Mosman Bay, The Blue Duck, Hotel Northbridge, and Fraser's all put their hand up to host the show at least once.
Billed as "a comedy about the perils of fine dining", Fancy Fare has been specially designed for performance in a restaurant.
It is a comedy about three couples dining at a Margaret River winery and the dreadful wait service they receive.
Mr Lonnie said that, while some of the venues that had agreed to show saw in it a way to treat their regular customers with something different, for others it is a marketing strategy to attract new business.
It has already toured twice, but never in Perth.
In November 2007, Margaret River's Vat 107 hosted the show for two weeks. Last April, the Hobart Fringe Festival invited the play to show at the well-known local restaurant, Mures, for a week. The tour concluded at Busselton's Goose Restaurant upon its return to WA.
Although Mr Lonnie is already thinking about taking Fancy Fare to the regions and even London, he said the Perth tour would be a real test.
"We've been able to work the play, to rehearse the actors and it has got as good as it can get...Perth will be the test," Mr Lonnie told WA Business News.
Mr Lonnie reduced his workload in Perth to move to Margaret River and dedicate more time to writing and directing plays.
"What was attractive about this play [Fancy Fare] is that I was in Margaret River and I thought I'd like to write a comedy I could produce without the huge costs of formal theatre," he said.
"It costs $100,000 or more to put a formal theatre show on. You have to pay for the set, the designers, the lighting design, a formal rehearsal room and actors' rehearsals for three weeks.
"With Fancy Fare, we didn't have all those costs and we could do it in Margaret River. The set is the restaurant and I can fit the lighting set in a box."
Fancy Fare is Mr Lonnie's ninth production.
His previous play, To Have and To Hold, was performed in 1994 at the Playhouse Theatre.
Fancy Fare premiered in Perth on September 27 and will conclude its tour, in seven different venues, on October 11 at the Hotel Northbridge.