DISHPIG

Havana Restaurant (1212 Commercial Dr.), today at 7:15 p.m., Wednesday at 9 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 7:15 p.m., Saturday at 9 p.m.

Wow! Dishpig is an absolutely assured piece of one-man theatre, so strong a show that it immediately establishes local talent Greg Landucci as an actor worth following.

It doesn't hurt that TJ Dawe, that monstrously talented master of the art of monologue, is co-writer and director of this blistering comedy. Together, Dawe and Landucci have crafted a must-see piece about life in hell.

Dishpig works in one of those restaurants, staffed with pretty gals and cute guys, where the menu doesn't get much more adventurous than caesar salad with your steak. Behind the swinging doors is a crazed kitchen filled with people far less perfect than those in the fashion show up front, and Landucci hilariously nails his characterizations of everyone on either side of the horrible hierarchy.

Dishpig must come up to speed instantly on his awful duties in the "dish pit," and a highlight of the show is Landucci's rapid-fire delivery of a job description that is pure performance poetry. Shifting between spotlights and scenes with ease, the actor misses not one iota of both the laughs and pathos to be found in such a strange environment.

Until now, my favourite description of what really goes on in a restaurant came in George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, as he details the disgusting time he spent as a kitchen plongeur with a chef who suffered regular crise de nerfs. From now on, however, I'll never sit in a restaurant without wondering if Dishpig is on duty in the pit.

Peter Birnie

Sun Theatre Critic

From the Winnipeg Fringe Festival July 2007

A
Dishpig
PKF Productions
Venue 14
Everybody's had a crappy job. Excluding javelin catcher, dishpig might be the worst. According to this one-man show written by TJ Dawe and Greg Landucci, it's like being a human toilet. Trying to keep one's composure and sanity while elbows deep in leftover muck and guck - without any wash gloves, mind you - well, let's just say this isn't a labour of love. Landucci, as Matt, delivers intensely repeated rapid-fire lines like a tweaked-out auctioneer, showing just how repetitive and stressing the job can be. Not just the dishpig, Landucci plays the whole staff, and whether he's Jeff hard-ass boss Jeff, Zach the dick or the ultra-annoying Murray, you really get a feel for Hell's kitchen. That feeling should result in you finishing every ounce of food on your plate the next time you eat out. - JS - Uptown

DISHPIG
PKF Productions
The King's Head (Venue 14), to July 29
Under 18 years not admitted

Ah, to be 23 years old with your arms soaked deep in lettuce shreds, salsa chunks, hardened cheese and greasy water.

And don't forget to put on that sexy hair-net.

Performer Greg Landucci masterfully recalls the humiliation and humour that go hand-in-hand with being the lowest rank of the restaurant order, the smelly, plate-washing species known as the dishpig.

In a profanity-laced one-hour script penned with fringe legend TJ Dawe, Landucci believably channels characters that range from Jemma, a hottie waitress who's lusted after by every male employee in the restaurant, to co-worker Leo, who shares raunchy trade secrets about how to secretly foul the food of perceived foes (think bodily functions galore).

Already garnering a strong buzz thanks to an appearance at last year's festival, Landucci has audience members in turn recoiling and guffawing.

You'll cringe and you'll laugh, and you'll also likely think twice about the poor dishwasher at the King's Head mopping up after the audience's nacho and fry plates.

-- Gabrielle Giroday - 4 stars - Winnipeg Free Press

If you saw Dishpig at the Fringe last year and enjoyed it, odds are you’ll like this encore presentation – and if you missed it, it’s definitely worth checking out. Co-written by Fringe workhorse TJ Dawe and Greg Landucci (who performs this solo show), Dishpig takes us into the knee-deep-in-slop world of the restaurant dishwasher. Landucci skillfully brings each of the kitchen’s characters to life, including our hero Matt; Leo, the ladies’ man; and Murray, the impossibly-annoying co-worker who Landucci voices in what sounds like a weird cross between Yoda and nails scraping on a chalkboard. The hilarious segment in which Matt robotically (and incredibly rapidly) lists the mind-numbingly dull repetition of his work routine stands out as a particularly remarkable bit of performance. No matter that Matt himself is actually a fairly bland character. There’s enough comic fodder in the rest of the staff to entertain – and probably to make your own job seem pretty good in comparison.- CBC - 4 stars Reviewed by: Joff Schmidt

Reviews from The Toronto Fringe Festival

Dishpig 5 stars
EYE WEEKLY's Review
Writers TJ Dawe and Greg Landucci almost perfectly capture the dirty rhythmic chaos and rigid class structure of the restaurant profession in what must be considered a highlight of this year’s festival. Landucci’s one-man performance throbs with energy and fast-talking, tongue-twisting virtuosity that makes perfectly clear the self-hatred that can accompany one of the dirtiest jobs going, the weird combination of pride in and hatred of menial tasks and the jokily sexist, macho culture of the kitchen. Turning the recitation of the dishwasher’s day into rapid-fire poetry is a stroke of genius. If this were heading for a bigger stage, one might ask for a bit more backstory about Matt, the dish pig of the title, to explain his studious/stupid duality, but in this venue and form, as a simple snapshot of a man and his passionate dislike for his life’s circumstances, this is very close to perfect. Edward Keenan -

July 11, 2007
Fringeist: Dishpig Brings Home the Bacon

Dishpig is a one-man show directed and co-written by Fringe fav TJ Dawe , but starring someone else entirely: Greg Landucci, who co-wrote the show with Dawe. Following a popular trend in one-man show, Dishpig is all about a dude describing how awful his job is, although in this case it's a single job: the main character Matt is a dishwasher, or "dishpig," in a restaurant. Landucci focuses on Matt/Dishpig, although he also manages to portray the other host of people that work in the restaurant, from asshole waiters, to sexy waitresses to stoner line-cooks. Anyone who has ever worked in the food service industry is advised to check out this show; it would probably be pretty cathartic.

Landucci approaches his performance with considerable gusto and energy. You truly feel how disgusting each and every task that he has to perform as a dishpig is, and one intense scene of describing an insanely vast amount of dishes to be cleaned earned him a round of applause at its completion. And his ability to slip back and forth between portraying the entire staff of the restaurant restaurant is totally tour-de-force.

The story of Dishpig is simple and doesn't have very far to go, but Landucci's telling of it is masterful. The show won't you leave you with an earth-shattering climax, but with the satisfaction of seeing a really generous and studied performance.