Prison kitchen comedy cooks up laughs at The Kings Arms

August is generally a chance for theatres to go dark and allow staff to recharge their batteries, in preparation for Autumn seasons which tend to be full on from September onwards, building up to the Festive C word.

But The Kings Arms in Salford is staging a comedy about two chefs working in a death row kitchen, written by Josh Bird, Tom Faulkner and Noah Fox.

The Grill (Jokes About Ovens)

The Grill (Jokes About Ovens) by Manchester-based Peripeteia Theatre Company explores social class, capitalism and the nature of the Justice System and it is directed by Adam Cachia.

We caught up with one of the show’s writers and actors Noah Fox who plays Tom in the play to find out more about the piece which runs at the Kings Arms in August.

What made you want to have the doubly claustrophobic setting of a kitchen and a prison?

If someone has a rubbish meal at a restaurant, no harm is done really. Plenty of potential lovely Lasagnas to look forward to.

That is unless you’re due to be killed the next morning – then I’d say there’s definitely an added pressure to nail that Lasagna the first time. That’s the position our protagonists, Tom and Wally, find themselves in when The Grill (Jokes About Ovens) begins.

In a normal kitchen you have someone communicating between the front and back of the house, usually a waiter, in this case, our waiter is a pretty overbearing prison guard who seems to have a sadistic streak.

While usually, a waiter would have to be on the side of both customer and chef, our guard appears quite standoffish towards both, changing the dynamic that both Wally and Tom are used to from their time in kitchens.

We were originally looking into a piece that followed a clerk working the doors of heaven and hell, but naturally found ourselves with a comedy set in a kitchen in a maximum security prison.

A prison in a version of Britain that never scrapped the death penalty – but instead brought in Michelin star chefs for the inmates, to give them one last taste of everything they’re about to lose.

We knew we wanted to tell a story which explored class so we started to look at the justice system and its biases, and also the nature of food and how it inherently relates to class, as well as how a lot of food that traditionally started from the working classes has now been co-opted by these enormous multinational corporations that sell it for an absurd markup.

But honestly, all of these ideas came off the back of the initial premise rather than the other way around.

Why do you think we have become interested in looking ‘back stage’ – in the kitchen in all genres, from The Bear to The Great British Menu?

It’s a 50/50 between audiences who want to see either top-quality procedure or carnage. With The Grill, we’ve steered more into the carnage. Cooking is a kind of art form that people have largely neglected to recognise until recently.

People love food and always have, but the desire to see behind the curtain has largely been confined to things like Kitchen Nightmares, more ‘reality’ style programs.
I think the intensity of kitchen work just inherently lends itself to dramatic and comedic moments, and I think the nature of the job makes it a career path that you have to be incredibly passionate about to pursue.

But people also love the intensity, so to get a look into it as a fly on the wall with no personal stakes is what I think makes it so appealing. That intensity of a kitchen is then doubled in The Grill, with the added danger of the prison around them, and the dangerous inmate that they’re cooking for.

Tom and Josh, the two other writers of the show, have worked in restaurants and around kitchens and chefs for years, so it was also great getting their input. However, I do feel it’s important to say, this show is very much not like The Bear or any other show about chefs. We’re focussing more on the prison itself
than the kitchen within it. It’s a very absurd play that’s more like a lost episode of Porridge that someone left in a Twilight Zone DVD case.

How would you can you sum up the plot of The Grill (Jokes About Ovens)?

The life of Britain’s most dangerous man, Terry Dawson, has led him finally to the eve of his last day before being executed for his bizarre and varied crimes. His last day just so happens to fall on the first day of strike action from the National Union Of Prison Cooks.

This leaves an overworked Guard to find two chefs capable of serving his doomed inmate. He settles on Tom and Wally, the only two chefs willing to cross the picket line, with outstanding CVs who are certainly able to complete the task at hand.

The play follows Wally and Tom as they attempt to carefully craft the various courses of Terry’s final meal, while also making sure to win the approval of the Guard who hired them, and trying to navigate their own personal differences.

Why do you think Manchester is such a creative place to live and work?

It seems obvious to say but there really is a huge variety of different creatives who are clearly so passionate about what they do. The best example of this off the top of my head came up quite recently actually.

I was working with M6 Theatre in Rochdale and met Liz Mytton, a theatremaker who, whilst working on a number of projects, was also putting together a play exploring the dental health emergency in the UK called Mental Dental.

There is always a great deal going on covering seemingly everything you could think of.

Before moving to Manchester, living in my hometown, the extent of my writing was limited to a few half-written scripts and half-cooked conversations about ideas.

For me personally, it’s where I met two guys as interested as me in writing a comedy about chefs making paella in prison.

What do you want audiences to get from the play?

We’re putting it on in a pub that has a great beer garden, it’s summer(ish) and it’s a comedy.

I think we honestly just want everyone to have a good time. If someone laughs at least once I’ll be happy.

The Grill (Jokes About Ovens) is at the Kings Arms Theatre, Salford from 12th – 15th August and you can book tickets here