The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette: Fremantle Festival

The Hardest Way to Make an Omelette by Jessica Harlond-Kenny is simply wonderful.

Harlond-Kenny has devised this one-woman show over time, slow cooking it in that clever brain of hers, working it with the help of various sous-chefs in the form of mentors and director Leah Mercer. She’s now serving up her delicious dish at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre as part of the Fremantle Festival.

The show opens with Harlond-Kenny cozily snoozing center stage under a duvet and she slowly begins to wake at the insistence of an alarm and a curious creature crawling over her chest and face. She’s finally roused out of her semi-dreaming state by the gruff command of an egg-shaped army sergeant who has appeared on scene, ordering her to make “BREAKFAST!”

The egg has magically appeared out of her mouth, a phenomenon which keeps happening throughout the show, as egg after egg appears from all over her body until there are several dozen eggs on stage at once. Each egg has a different personality and has different motivations, pushing and pulling Harlond-Kenny in all directions as she struggles to keep up with what they all want. In the end the demand for “BREAKFAST!” must be heeded and Harlond-Kenny goes to extraordinary lengths to get it done.

This is one of the most creative and imaginative pieces of theatre I have ever seen and it is certainly one of this year’s best. Harlond-Kenny performs amazing feats of mental and emotional gymnastics as she brings the eggs and other props to life. It’s also a bit of a physical workout, as she runs on and off stage, climbs, crawls, dances and writhes. Every detail has been carefully crafted and timed, every small gesture is perfect, and there’s nothing extraneous (or egg-straneous).

There was moment after moment of delightful surprise and even shock. Harlond-Kenny takes lots of risks in this material and it pays off. The audience was completely invested in everything she did, reacting audibly with belly laughter and verbal outbursts. Harlond-Kenny takes us on a wonderful roller coaster ride of make-believe as she makes breakfast in the most egg-straordinary way, and the audience absolutely eats it up.

In short, this show is not to be missed.