Women’s distorted relationships with food have been documented to a degree that implies total ownership — fat being a feminist issue and all that. For a man to get up there, centre stage, and start telling a story about how he hates his body? That’s something. Or it almost is, in Hungry Tender, conceived, created and performed by Shane Byrne.
 
Byrne is seemingly trying to channel the King, perhaps calling upon Elvis as his protective spirit animal, whilst describing how much he dislikes his own body. He does this in the third person, which already serves to dilute the message, and in such a diffident, slow motion manner one worries that he’s forgetting his lines.
 
Then he makes two toasted sandwiches, and eats them with all the self-loathing and rage that goes along with behaviour that makes one feel helpless and in control simultaneously. This powerful moment is inexplicably squandered as he then heads straight into a redemptive acceptance of himself, which comes far too easily. Interspersed are his own musical interpretations of Presley’s greatest hits.
 
Byrne is rather casual about the whole thing, seeming to want to spend as little time in the centre of that stage as he can. This may be interesting metaphorically, but it doesn’t work theatrically; it diffuses the strength of his story, and leaves behind a feeling of seriously missed opportunity.

Star rating: ★★