Giovanni!

Giovanni!
Hew Parham

Giovanni, our Italian waiter, is a dizzying collection of different people: an Italian-born fellow, an Australian born in Italy, Hew himself, and others. Their stories of how they came to be working as a waiter in this Italian restaurant are all different, yet all the same and at the same time.

Don't ask, it does not really matter.

What does matter is that Hew blends and separates them with enormous energy, eloquent physicality, and madcap verbal acrobatics. He tells tall tales and true tales. His Italian gibberish and Australian accents blend and separate wildly as he regales us with his passion to serve and to make "rapporio" with us, his clientele.

His arguments, in Italo-gibberish with his off-stage mother always end in a sheepish, "Si Mama, si Mama." We feel as humbled by her I audible tirades as he does

Giovanni has big appetites--for food, for sex, for connection, for life. He does not shy away from expressing his desires and disappointments. He propositions the entire audience. He is bemoans the state of the world,where people would choose a "piece of shit on a sugary bun" rather than good Italian "a-free-range-a" food. For all his ridiculous antics and diatribes, Giovanni touches many sore spots and leaves us pondering a world where a delicious homemade Italian meal, served with honor and pride, is a swiftly dwindling possibility.