I am always a little bit wary when a “new” play is actually a reworking of a play that was launched, fairly unsuccessfully, last year but Torben Betts’ latest offering, Caroline’s Kitchen, really breaks the mould, as the relaunched play is fast, funny, fairly farcical and a masterclass in how self-centred modern life has become.
The play revolves around Caroline, played by Caroline Langrishe, a TV chef who broadcasts a cooking programme from the kitchen of her home, and who is hosting a family meal this evening to celebrate her son’s graduation from Cambridge. Her PA, Amanda (Jasmyn Banks), does her best to organise Caroline’s life, but a breaking tabloid scandal, a class A drugs habit and copious amounts of alcohol don’t really help much with that.
Aden Gillett as Caroline’s overbearing, boorish, golf obsessed, retired banker of a husband is a thoroughly unpleasant character. The archetypal “Man’s Man”, he seems totally incapable of displaying any affection towards his family, and yet he is desperate to know that Caroline will forgive him for his recent affair – totally unaware that Caroline’s fidelity is just as questionable as his own.
Although we never really know just how far Caroline’s desire for hired carpenter, Graeme (James Sutton), has progressed – although the sexual tension between them is palpable – Graeme’s wife Sally (Elizabeth Boag) has been reading text messages on his phone and knows exactly what has been happening.
Caroline is trying to maintain appearances, to protect her public image, but, as a huge storm breaks outside, with Sally’s arrival on top of everything else, an even bigger one breaks within the confines of the kitchen – the single set working well to intensify the building tension – as this celebration soon becomes the evening in which everything falls irrevocably apart.
With everything that is going on around him, as every character tries to deal with their own personal demons, Caroline’s vegan son Leo (Tom England), who plans to head off to Syria to aid the plight of the refugees, is trying to “make an announcement” to his father – a sad throwback to a time that, for most, is long gone – but, as the chaos increases within the kitchen, and yet more alcohol is consumed, by the time he gets to reveal his secret, events have already escalated to an unmanageable level.
In a sad indictment of the way society has evolved, the six characters give a whole new meaning to self-centred. Each is so wrapped up in their own world, full of first world problems, that they listen to, but don’t hear, each other and, ultimately, are the architects of their own downfall.
**** Four Stars