Curious Cats serve up a fateful night of laughter and tears in The Best Restaurant in the World. Ever.
For its second production, the company turns to an expanded version of the award-winning play by Rick Dobran that became a Fringe favourite back in the days of Y2K
Rick Dobran and Mersiha Musovic in The Best Restaurant in the World. Ever. Photo by Andrew Fraser
Curious Cats Theatre Collective presents The Best Restaurant in the World. Ever. at the Jericho Arts Centre from November 6 to 16
AFTER 25 YEARS, The Best Restaurant in the World. Ever. returns to Vancouver with playwright and performer Rick Dobran and director Karen Hamm at the helm.
Written in 1999 as part of a series of one-act plays on the theme of Y2K, Best Restaurant was expanded into a two-act play and debuted at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 2000, earning a Jesse Richardson Award for its script. A year later, Hamm came onto the project and brought Best Restaurant to sold-out houses at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.
Now, two-and-a-half decades later, Curious Cats Theatre Collective presents the show at the Jericho Arts Centre.
The play follows Joe (played by Dobran), the chef and owner of the best restaurant in the world, who is haunted by his past. One fateful night, Joe, his staff, and his clientele experience a dinner service they won’t soon forget.
“[There are] a few watershed moments for different characters who, in their lives, are a bit overwhelmed with the things that they’re having to deal with,” Dobran explains. “It’s one night of everything coming to a head.”
In the original production, this momentous evening fell on New Year’s Eve of 1999. When Y2K came and went, the fateful night became Valentine’s Day. In the new script, it’s something else entirely.
The day and time isn’t the only change, however. After many revisions and read-throughs with Hamm, Dobran’s new script has reached a point where Best Restaurant finally feels fully realized.
“The arcs are better for everyone. I think why they do what they do is better,” Dobran says. “There’s also other characters that I’ve been able to give a little bit more to.”
Other notable changes include a larger range of ages and life experiences among the characters. As Dobran returns to the piece at a later stage of his life, the role he’s taking on has naturally evolved with him, carrying the weight of new perspectives and maturity. This shift has prompted Dobran to reimagine other characters, giving the relationships and dynamics a more layered and authentic feel.
What stays true to the original production are the themes of love, loss, and confronting one’s personal ghosts.
The production welcomes back Kurt Evans—who has appeared in every version of the show since its inception—and stars Christi Arellano, Jarod Campbell, Alexander Forsyth, Lachlan Harris-Fiesel, Erin Jeffery, FJ Mensah, Mersiha Musovic, Jordon Navratil, and Kenneth Seto Tynan.
“It’s a fun group,” Dobran says of his fellow cast members. “They’re bringing it their all, and they’re working so hard. It’s so exciting to see them do the work. And so we’re really enjoying that.”
Best Restaurant marks the second show from the new company Curious Cats Theatre Collective, of which Hamm is co-artistic director, along with Maryth Gilroy and Sandra Medeiros.
“I’ve known Maryth for a long time, and Sandra, as well,” Hamm says. “I’ve worked with them in different capacities. And the three of us are all kind of at the same point in our lives where we were like, ‘I really want to produce again, but let’s do it as a group. Let’s make productions happen. Let’s go back to directing and doing the things that we love, but let’s do it as a team.’”
(Left to right) Alexander Forsyth, Christi Arellano, Jarod Campbell, and Kurt Evans in The Best Restaurant in the World. Ever. Photo by Andrew Fraser
Last year, Curious Cats presented its inaugural production, A Man Walks Into a Bar by Rachel Blair, at the Vancouver Fringe.
For Hamm, the joy of leading this theatre company with Gilroy and Medeiros is the creative freedom she has to produce work she’s genuinely interested in.
“There’s something nice about creating work and producing work at an age where I can really appreciate it,” Hamm says. “I’m not doing it because I need to make a living at it. I’m at a point where I can do the projects I want to do.”
Hamm and Dobran hope that Best Restaurant makes audiences laugh and maybe shed a tear or two—and, most importantly, look at the world around them in a new way.
“The show is really magical,” Hamm says. “I think every audience member will come to the show and be able to relate to at least a few of these characters.” 
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