Victor Kalka

Freelance Theatre Artist

I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. This always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Australian premiere of Mahfouz’s award winning play (2022), remounted at KXT (2023)

“★★★★★ Alice Birbara is pure undiluted power on the stage. [...] Victor Kalka as director and designer has delivered an outstanding night of theatre.”

— Rebecca Varidel, Sydney Scoop

Alice Birbara as Chef in the 2023 remount of the play Chef written by Sabrina Mahfouz. Image description: A woman with short blonde hair and tattoos wearing a chef jacket is standing beside a tiled wall illuminated by harsh fluorescent light. — Alice Birbara as Chef, 2023

“★★★★ Physically, vocally and emotionally, everything gels. It’s an excellent performance.”

— Jason Blake, Audrey Journal

“★★★★ There are moments of wonderful physicality – Alice Birbara brings a lithe, sinewy power to this role – such as when she spreads her arms behind her body, seen in silhouette from both sides of the theatre, like a great bird taking flight. [...] Chef is a highly aesthetic production with intelligent light and sound design used to reinforce the play’s structure. ”

— Helen Hopcroft, Arts Hub

I cook here, create here,
make here be as much of life as I can
because outside of this
I’m not safe,
I don’t know the way.

As Chef plans the perfect menu she reveals the events and relationships that took her from a Michelin starred restaurant to a prison kitchen. Chef turns a life shaped by violence and loss into sublime dishes that reflect her philosophy of simplicity and respect. The Australian premiere of Sabrina Mahfouz’s award-winning play, Chef is a raw and poetic show about food, ambition and memories.

written by Sabrina Mahfouz
performed by Alice Birbara

directed and designed by Victor Kalka
produced by Virginia Plain
lighting designer Jasmin Borsovszky
stage manager Christopher Starnawski
sound designer Ryan Devlin
photography by Clare Hawley/Asparay Photographics

“Birbara displayed a keen ear for tone as she moved between scenes of violence and delight with the required coolness or speechlessness. [...] Mahfouz’s superb script was skillfully portrayed in this production with an alluring attention to detail and the subtle undertones at work in this woman’s story.”

— Julia Clark, Night Writes