Entering 17 Tory Street for the second time this Fringe I am struck by how different the space feels to when I was last here. What was a typical end-on makeshift stage has become a restaurant. I am greeted by a smiling Ania Upstill who offers me a bowl of lavender water in which to wash my hands before she shows me to my seat. Myself and the four others at my table are handed menus, which go some way to explaining that we are about to have a multi-sensory and multi-media experience.  

The layout features photographs of non-culinary objects: boxes, houses etcetera, accompanied by equally indirect but intriguing text. They remind me more of zines. The aesthetic of the space and objects sets the scene for a performance with a light and poetic touch.

Having worked with Wellington-based Ania previously as a writer and performer, and seen her script based plays – Shakespeare in particular – I am intrigued by her work with her US-based twin Kim Upstill and by what they, as Twincity Productions, might produce. As a twin myself, the potential themes up for exploration – having such an intrinsically close relationship take place long distance – is a delicious prospect.

And it turns out to be a delicious project also. I am delighted by the food presented to us in the same lyrical tone as the performance: petit, symbolic, like the sly glances between performers; the gentle games between the twins and their assistant (Pipipajna Tui), who are all dressed in uniform. For Ania and Kim this accentuates their eerie twinness to effect. The chemistry between performers makes the veiled themes compelling.

The preparation of food becomes an act; a knowing dance. The serving of food equally becomes something searching, inquisitive and playful. The audience is guided gracefully through the experience which all-in-all I would have to label as a celebration more than any explicit tale. There is a sense of delight in the way the performers interact with their audience and each other.

The moment that feels the least finessed is the only moment of verbal storytelling. It lacks any real stakes despite an underlying tension and is too neatly packaged, unlike the rest of the show which feels like pleasantly open-ended questions.

The concept of a tasting menu and a multi-sensory experience is embraced and serves the performers well. I take particular pleasure in the way they move in space together and feel Twincity do themselves a narrative disservice not further mining their own relationship and kinship for tension and arch. This lean performance could go on to have an even richer life given more time.

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