Stuffed is an exhilarating theatre experience that captures the urgency of fighting poverty through running a food bank. Yes, these are tricky issues, but audiences don’t go to the theatre to hear horrible news and bitter complaints, right? The theatremakers are well aware of this and turn the “bad stuff” into a clown show. You’ll find yourself laughing at the ugliest facts and thinking: “That’s horrible! I shouldn’t be laughing.” But you can’t help it.
Multi-award-winning Ugly Bucket specializes in grabbing your attention with fast-paced music, live DJ sets, frenetic dancing, and even moments of yelling through a megaphone from atop a ladder: “We can only keep you for one hour, and we are running out of time!” With electrifying visual and sound effects, the company draws a vivid comparison between maintaining a food bank and firefighting: the overwhelming demand for help is like smoke and fire everywhere, phones ring like fire alarms, and actors in firefighters’ uniforms rush about desperately… The engaging firefighting scenes re-create the stress and intensity of working in a food bank.
But attention is not enough – we need digestion. Stuffed strives to make it easy for the audience not only to swallow but also digest the bad stuff, and it always succeeds. While stress is cleverly turned into theatrical excitement, the harsh reality of battling poverty is transformed into a clown show. The audio of distressed volunteers is accompanied by goofy faces; a woman struggling to make better decisions with little budget becomes a contestant in an entertaining TV game show; a starving man is playing with his guts in pain, forcing a big smile.
It can be funny to watch people suffer, and being funny is an effective way to get us to look at how many different ways people can suffer from poverty. It is not only about lack of food: it is about lack of understanding. We find it hard to take the bad stuff in until Ugly Bucket makes laughter the stuffing.
Let Stuffed be the good stuff created out of the bad stuff. Let theatre guide us through the experience we are afraid to go through. Enjoy the show, and remember to check out the food donation point at Pleasance Courtyard Café.
