Blood is Thicker than Hummus

Pamela Parker is having a dinner party and you’re invited!

Blood is Thicker than Hummus is a wholly immersive theatre experience from Little Dirt Path (the creative duo comprising Catherine Holder and Pearce Hessling) about a dysfunctional family just trying to have a nice family dinner.

Pamela Parker (played by Melina Wylie, who devised the show alongside Holder and Hessling), and her twin adult children Patrick (Hessling) and Penelope (Holder) have come together following a long estrangement after the semi-recent death of their father (unnamed, but a patron saint of hummus: a solid, recurring gag, and the inspiration behind the show’s title). The occasion is a birthday dinner party, the invitees consisting of the Parkers, and the lucky audience members who (perhaps unwittingly) enter the Parker household.

Make no mistake: you are as much a part of the show as the Parker family. Upon entering the venue, each audience member is given a character name and a name tag to identify them and are then ushered inside. If you’re expecting a stage and the comfort of a darkened theatre, think again. The play takes place entirely on what ostensibly appears to be a small apartment, consisting of a kitchen, dining area and lounge room. The audience is invited to hang up their coats upon entering just as you would at a friend’s home, and then given tasks in preparation for the dinner portion of the dinner party.

This audience member suspects this is a tactic on behalf of the actors to ease the audience into the experience, and a successful one at that. After being invited to sit at the dinner table, the audience starts to relax into the experience, and enjoy the show.

The through-line of the show is the fractious relationship between Patrick and Penelope, engineered often through Pamela’s tactlessness, and preferential treatment of Patrick. Patrick and Penelope themselves are strong caricatures of modern millennial concerns: Patrick, a photographer who dresses in a kaftan and thin scarf (garb eerily reminiscent of his time spent in India), despairs at the effect of plastic on the environment and Penelope’s flagrant use of it; and Penelope, a vegan, who anguishes over Patrick’s meat-eating and culture-appropriating fashion choices, while unable to acknowledge the hypocrisy of her own.

It’s ultimately unclear if there’s a message Holder and Hessling wish to impart on their audience in the midst of Patrick and Penelope’s rows, or if it’s just that their beliefs are such fodder for mockery and make for good entertainment (they do). In any case, once their resentment for each boils over, the show narrows to its funniest, finest point. Wylie as Pamela particularly shone, especially when presiding over her audience alone, while Patrick and Penelope were relegated to their respective naughty corners as a punishment for fighting.

Blood is Thicker than Hummus is not quite for everyone. Those of whom prefer to sit back and enjoy their entertainment rather than participate in it may find it difficult – but it was certainly for me. The actors were so infectious and encouraging of their audience that it was hard not to want to go along for the ride, and the more you engage, the more fun you have.

If you have the chance to attend the next Parker family dinner party, make sure to RSVP and bring some enthusiasm to the table.

Blood is Thicker than Hummus 
Site Works, 33 Saxon Street, Brunswick
littledirtpath.com.au/blood-is-thicker-than-hummus