The Kitchen

Overview

Cooking and food prep has been recognised as a form of entertainment thanks to the likes of Masterchef, Test Kitchen, Cupcake Wars and Come Dine with Me. But the foodie voyeurism never transcended from the silver screen to the stage, until Can & Abel’s The Kitchen which is currently showing at Skycity as part of the Auckland Arts Festival.

The concept behind the show is an interesting one. A husband and wife act as the protagonists of the story, as they illustrate their love story without words, but instead using the concoction of payasam, a traditional Indian rice dessert. The program suggested the similarity between the preparation of payasam and a marriage, although the comparison goes unexplained, leaving audiences to make the metaphorical connection between the boiling rice and a journey of love. I get the combination of ingredients, the coming together of different flavours, the union of separate raw parts into one superior product, but it seems a shaky metaphor. Or I’m missing the point.

The show is inspired by the Sufi poet, Jalaludin Rumi’s, kitchen in Turkey. A room that served more than meals, but also as a reminder of spirituality and tradition. Rumi and his dervishes would pray on a raised level whilst the meals were prepared on a lower platform. Alongside the pots would be novices, who abstained from food and drink until their souls, like the food, were ready. Director of the show and playwright, Roysten Abel, takes this metaphor a step further in applying the idea of cooking not only to spirituality, but to love and life itself.

The most striking part of the performance is undeniably the dozen Rajasthani drummers, who beat their mizhavu (copper drums) throughout the entire hour and a quarter show. They are clearly very talented, and there is never a beat out of place, although there was never really a climax to their performance despite the lengthy ascent, which instead ended in a disappointing plateau. Their positioning on stage added to their mysterious and ethereal  impression, as they sit in a pyramid formation atop a three tired stage.

The show drags on a little, with the main attraction being the slowly boiling dessert, and the drummers being the unexpected highlight of the performance. It all seems a little disjointed and unrelated at times, when it is difficult to find the links between the food, the music and the actors. But the finale results in audiences being asked to try the payasam, which is so delicious that we forget the show itself was slightly bland in taste.