Hope Has a Happy Meal (NHB Modern Plays)

Product Information

But in the People’s Republic of Koka Kola – a world of dwindling resources, corruption and corporate giants – what happens to Hope? Via Hope, writer Tom Fowler drops us into Satire Land – or, more precisely, the People’s Republic of Koka Kola. In this Happy Meal dystopia, everything – from cities, to train lines, to armies – is owned and branded by big corporations. With much trepidation, Hope is returning to Koka Kola, after decades away, to reunite with her sister and someone else she left behind years ago. But her visit becomes considerably more dramatic after she meets waitress Isla (Mary Malone) – who’s fleeing with her baby nephew from his father, a police officer who she says killed her sister – and a suicidal, soon-to-be-former park ranger, Alex (Nima Taleghani). They band together to find a fabled commune run by Hope’s sister.

Hope Has a Happy Meal is a thought-provoking tragic-comic-satiric-allegory that takes viewers on a journey through the dystopian capitalist landscape of the People’s Republic of Koka Kola. The resultant escapade feels part Thelma and Louise, part reverse-Wizard of Oz, and Lucy Morrison’s direction neatly balances the comic beats with darker material, including a nightmarish gameshow hallucination. Felix Scott gives a panoply of excellent performances, from a brutal cop to a hopeless ex-husband, and there is enough vim and vigour to the production that when Isla announces that “this is, like, the best adventure ever!” you’re just about prepared to overlook the horrible thing that’s being sanctioned in the basement.

Reviews

The play follows the return of Hope after a nearly 30-year absence, as she navigates a corporation-run police state while attempting to reconnect with her family. Tom Fowler’s writing showcases a keen comedic sensibility, and the cast delivers it with aplomb, setting a winning tone from the very beginning.

It’s most appropriate in more informal places (especially those with children as guests). However, you’ll find it works well anywhere. I really like the way that Fowler parodies the banal pronouncements of those in power, and his evident sympathy for the marginalized and the needy. There is also something very allusive in his writing: the mention of Strawberry Fields commune brings to mind the Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby” when, some time later, it becomes evident that we are dealing with a situation that could be described as “all the lonely people, where do they all come from?” I also like the psychological insights, expressed perhaps most directly in the clown game show sequence, and the drunken episode when Hope and Lor get plastered. Yet anger and violence step on the toes of all the humour. Despite all the jokes, notions of loss and death give the piece its much needed shadows. Over the last five years I feel like people on the left across the country have felt the experience of having hope and then losing it, and I wanted the play to reflect that. So ‘hope’ is shown to be beautiful and powerful but unreliable. It can lift you up but then tear you down just as easily.

What Can I Say Instead Of “Enjoy Your Meal”?

Let me know if there’s anything else you need” works if you do not want to say “enjoy your meal.” The sentiment is still there, but we do not have to say it outright for the people to understand what we mean. Instead, we can offer them a different service. Aside from the underdone setting, Hope has a Happy Meal manages to be both funny and exciting, with well-written and enjoyably performed characters and confident, clear direction. It succeeds at being a very engaging play, even if it doesn’t achieve everything it wants to.

During the next 20 minutes In Stereo shows O’Flynn’s lonely narrator experiencing a psychotic episode in which the actor’s recorded voiceover tells the supernatural story of a damp stain on the wall which gradually takes over her life. Alone on stage with a television, the silent O’Flynn moves warily as her entire life begins to be consumed not only by the growing mould around her, but also by fractures of her self as her words splinter into several simultaneous and competing voices. McDowall shows how the mottled room, itself a character, will outlive this one woman and will absorb the lives of future generations until climate change washes over everyone.

I Hope You Have A Pleasant Meal

The serious satirical swipe at consumer culture gets sadly lost along the way, but there is plenty of humanity here to make up for it.

In these cases, we can offer our services at a later time by saying, “let me know if there’s anything else you need.” It’s still an incredibly polite way to say that you’re happy to help, and it’s also a closing statement that allows the diners to understand that it’s time for them to eat. The most mentally explosive experience, in the main Downstairs space, is McDowall’s trilogy of short plays, which are all performed by Kate O’Flynn in what must surely be a career-defining event. The first 20 minutes is Northleigh, 1940, in which a young woman joins her father in their Morrison shelter, a wire-mesh tomb-like container on the floor of the dining room, during a wartime air raid. Starting with the elevated and inflated tone of lyrical poetry –“Alone, on ashen sands that yearned beyond/ All measure known in realms familiar” –the piece then grounds itself in northern everyday chat, before evoking, more abstractly, the falling German bombs. It’s intriguing and allusive, but less impressive than the next two monologues. When a server is there to do a job, it’s difficult for them to separate “work” from “fun.” Therefore, they might struggle to give optimal customer service if they repeat phrases like “enjoy your meal.” Naomi Dawson’s set design deserves special mention, as the neon-lit, multi-levelled structure effectively transports the audience through various locations within the dystopian world. From flats to train toilets, each scene is seamlessly transitioned, contributing to the overall flow of the play.It works well because people don’t always expect their servers to be the most entertaining or enthusiastic. If you can show them that you care enough about them and your job to be lively and fun, you might just win them over. I hope you have a pleasant meal, gentlemen. Is there anything else I can get for you while you eat? The preferred version is “bon appetit.” It’s a French phrase that has become increasingly popular in English languages. Everyone understands what it means, and it makes for a refreshing change from the usual “enjoy your meal.” It works both formally and informally. Bon Appetit That’s why phrases like “it’s all yours” exist. They are more subtle in their delivery, which helps many servers to remain confident and enthusiastic, without saying “enjoy your meal” in a condescending way. The sentiment is still the same as the others on this list. We still want the diners to enjoy their time in the restaurant and to have a nice meal. However, we use “I hope” to introduce ourselves as a formal entity, and “pleasant” is a great adjective to use too.