In the Land of the Fatties and the Land of the Skinnies, preparing a “leg of human with saffron cream, ginger and cilantro” requires a dose of public solidarity to carefully wake up the ogre lying dormant in each of us. In this modern trash comedy from the young Brussels theatre company, Thank You For Coming, John-John Mossoux and Sara Selma Dolores, chew up and spit out social and moral codes in a fierce, voracious critique of today’s world that draws exploding laughter. The no-holds-barred and delightfully absurd, intense, cruel and blood-streaked dark humour is not for the faint of heart or faint of stomach.

Starting off from the statement “Tell me who you eat and I’ll tell you who you are”, the young theatre company continues on from the carnivorous food and urban themed Boudin & Chansons (2012) by inviting itself to the Land of the Ogres. In it, two cannibal actors, John-John Mossoux and Sara Selma Dolores tell a modern fairy tale story, in a world where inalienable injustice reigns. In the Kingdom Far Away, between the Land of the Fatties and the Land of the Skinnies, there is a war on people picking at each other’s plates. But the Ogres are already there to take advantage of the gullibility of the Fatties, stressed out by their fear of the Skinnies.

The pair of actors serves up the audience (or should we say smorgasbord of fresh meat) a no-holds-barred and uninhibited verbal tirade complete with crude words, slang from fifteenth-century French poet François Villon and modern urban “street” talk. Everyone is hauled over the coals in these frenzied and biting exchanges, as the pair lick, eat, regurgitate and swallow whatever is at hand. Constant interaction with the audience leaves the roughed up and man-handled spectators happily and deliciously begging for more. Behind all the dark and cutting humour, the gut-splitting laughter and trashy absurdities, the chiselled and spot-on writing from Thank You For Coming paints a poignant and irreverent picture critiquing today’s societies.