Fully breathless performance

Mark Setlock's frenetic pace leaves the audience gasping
Siobhan Murphy|Metro10 April 2012

Quite how Mark Setlock maintains the frenetic pace (and requisite shouting) of Fully Committed for its full 70 minutes is something of a mystery. But maintain it he does and, in the process, gives us a oneman show that leaves you gasping.

The premise is simple: Sam is a resting actor scraping a living by working the reservation line at New York's hippest restaurant.

It's the run-up to Christmas and the non-stop stream of bizarre people attempting to get a table are interspersed with mournful calls from his widowed father wondering if Sam will make it home for the holidays, a monstrous chef and a French ma"tre d' who refuses to talk to ugly people. Sam's day reaches its nadir when he's forced to clean the toilets.

Setlock plays each character up with a camply outrageous delight - from Bryce, the gofer from Naomi Campbell's office to Mrs Sebag, who becomes a wailing banshee when her booking is lost.

He and co-creator Becky Mode condemn the vanities of the restaurant trade as much as its status-obsessed clientele, while still maintaining an affection for what they are parodying.

Until Dec 18, Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street WC2, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, Sat mats 3.30pm, £15 and £25. Tel: 020 7836 3334. Tube: Leicester Square

Fully Committed

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in