The Café is a fun, choose-your-own adventure theatrical experience

The Café, an immersive new theatrical work is a creative, clever, and fun experience. Presented by ITSAZOO Productions and Aphotic Theatre, in partnership with PuSh, the show is performed at one of the Kafka’s (a Vancouver coffee shop) location. Seven different scenes happen throughout the coffee shop and audiences choose-their-own adventure, roaming around and sitting in on whichever conversations they want. Overall, the production is well-acted and polished, and there are few nuggets in the scripts that are meaningful and provide great takeaways. Above all else, this is a really enjoyable experience.

For the most part, each of the seven scenes involve two actors each, and they all begin at different times in different parts of Kafka’s, helping to give the scenes some naturalism. Each scene is repeated three times throughout the roughly one-and-a-half-hour presentation, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on a scene—whenever I saw an interesting scene happening elsewhere, I made a mental note to try to catch it during the next round. When the scenes are repeated, they take place in another part of the café, so it forces you to move around, adding to the fun. Directors Chelsea Haberlin and Fay Nass have done a wonderful job of orchestrating everything to run smoothly.

I commend the cast for performing these scenes as well as they do—it can’t be easy performing with audiences in such close proximity. And I also commend the creative team for striving to tell stories of diverse individuals, perspectives, and issues.

One of the challenges of presenting this type of work, is that the scripted conversations have to appear natural. However, at the end of the day, this is still theatre and live storytelling, so every scene needs to hook the audience, show character development, and have a story arch that includes a climax and resolution.

This of course, is not an easy task. I felt that out of the seven stories, there was only one, “Submission” that really nailed this. It’s a fantastic scene. Written by Fay Nass & Diana Garcia, the story is about a case of mistaken identity between art gallery owner Alex (Jacqueline Korb), who is searching for a new BDSM partner, and Spanish woman Bea (Montserrat Videla Samper), who is looking for a job. Both Korb and Samper are fabulous, with excellent character personalities and comedic timing, and they play off each other wonderfully.

Korb and Samper really hit that sweet spot between appearing natural in an immersive setting, while still being theatrical. By theatrical, I mean projecting loud enough for audiences to hear, and exuding enough stage presence to engage audiences. Nass and Garcia’s scene is also cleverly written, and I could tell by the number of audience members who gathered around for the scene, and their reactions, that this scene was definitely the audience favourite of the night.

I really respect “Przyjaciółki (Friends)” written by Anasi West, because it tells the story about two women, Lee (Claire Love Wilson) who is Canadian-born, and the other, Agnieska (Paloma Kwiatkowski) originally from Poland, and explores the impact of their cultural differences in their relationship. The story struck me as being very rooted in authenticity. However, the scene comes across a bit dull. I think the issue is the rhythm, including some long pauses throughout. In a space where there are seven scenes competing for audience attention, breaks like these can lose audiences who may be lured to action happening elsewhere.

While I don’t think there’s a story arch, character development, or a through line with its intended theme, I loved watching “Mango Cake”. Written by Omari Newton & Amy Lee Lavoie, the scene involves a couple, Kwame (Kwasi Thomas) and Andee (Meghan Hemingway). According to a scene description I read afterwards, Kwame and Andee are married—something I was actually unaware of, even after watching most of the scene two times. I thought they were just dating. But the scene itself is fun to watch because of the witty banter, pop culture references, and the personalities Thomas and Hemingway give their characters. I felt like I was actually watching a real date.

Like Korb and Samper in “Submission”, Thomas and Hemingway really hit that sweet spot between appearing natural and still selling their scene to a live audience. But playwrights Newton and Lavoie’s messaging of bi-racial tension between the couple didn’t come across to me. I definitely noticed a racial tension theme, but I felt it was more of a commentary on our current culture, not specifically between the couple. In any case, the racial tension messaging doesn’t hit hard enough to create a through line. Whenever the scene finished, I thought that basically nothing was accomplished, but it was just fun to watch the couple’s conversation.

I felt that most of the other scenes fell flat, never holding my interest. In one scene “Father’s Day”, written by Sebastien Archibald, Peter (Ben Elliott) speaks to his father, Benoît (Joey Lespérance) via a video call on his phone. To the audience, it’s a completely one-sided conversation, as Elliot is wearing AirPods. We experience long pauses and dialogue from Elliot with little context.  

“50 Cent Lemonade”, written by Kelsey Kanatan Wavey, is a brother and sister scene acted by Frankie Cottrell and Chelsea Rose that deals with autism, cancer, and strains in family relationships. I think Cottrell and Rose performed the scene well, but the scene never grabbed my attention and the conversation didn’t seem convincing to me. Also,—it’s very evident that the Pepsi can that Cottrell has in front of him is empty the whole time, because when he moves it, you can hear an empty tin can sound when the can hits the table.

And I never even really got to know what “Space Aliens and Tropical Ducks”, written by Derek Chan and performed by Melissa Oei and Alison Ward, is all about. The rhythm is slow and the presentation is very subdued. Right off the bat, there are entirely too many pauses in this scene. Oei’s character enters first and there’s a wait time before Ward joins her. But then Ward’s character leaves to go to the coffee bar and we have to wait again. In a setting where there’s so much other stuff going on, it’s asking a lot from audiences to remain invested.

In “Submission”, there’s a part when Samper’s character leaves for a few minutes, leaving Korb alone. But Korb ‘s character does something interesting while Samper is away, keeping us engaged. In “Space Aliens and Tropical Ducks”, there’s essentially nothing happening at times, so it loses audience attention.

Finally, there’s “Anna’s Story”, written by Manami Hara, about two upper-middle class moms, Anna (Genevieve Fleming) and Yumi (Yumi Ogawa). Right off the bat, Anna pulls a Karen action towards a character in another scene (Oei). Admittedly, this sparks audience interest. But it also makes you dislike Anna. And it’s a hard hill to climb to change that. Despite what you learn about her character later, I don’t think her character ever bounces back.

There wasn’t huge audience interest in this scene on opening night, and I feel it’s because the story of two essentially well-off housewives (Anna is definitely a housewife, and Yumi came across as one as well) wasn’t super appealing to the crowd. I very much appreciate the story’s messaging about celebrating gratitude and having a positive mindset, but the scene just didn’t seem to work with the opening night audience.

But that’s how things go in theatre—you never know how things are going to land with audiences until it’s performed. But for anything that didn’t work with this show, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The writers, cast, and the rest of the creative team have worked hard to put together this unique presentation. And at the end of the day, who cares if not everything hits well?

The Café is a fun audience experience, and it’s not something you can enjoy every day. Everyone will have their own individual experience, so I’m sure others will pick up on things that I didn’t. Feel free to let me know if you do! So, go ahead and embark on your own adventure at The Café.

The Café, presented by ITSAZOO Productions and Aphotic Theatre, in partnership with PuSh, runs at Kafka’s (577 Great Northern Way) until October 22. Visit the ITSAZOO site for information.

 *Please note, most of the actors in the show image are not the same performers in this production, as the photo was taken with the original cast before the show was delayed due to Omicron.