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If you're a Cuban exile somehow randomly transplanted from Miami to Seattle, don't go see The Cook at Seattle Rep. The overwhelming majority of sources (including this play) depict you as pretty angry, and The Cook will only further piss you off. If you're anyone else, go see it--You'll love it, although it may also piss you off. If you're a hipster or, less likely, a commie, dress up in your little Castro hat for the occasion.
The play is about food and ethnicity, but the pivot point is Fidel's revolution. We start here at the beginning, on the night Castro rolls up on Havana and white rich people bolt for Florida, never to return. In our house the cook is left in charge as the lady in mink makes a quick exit, and the cook enlists her husband the limo driver and her cousin the server to help her keep the house until her employer returns. The revolution, though, throws all of the power relationships out of whack and everything gets turned upside down in a second act which nearly caused Seattlest's eyes to sweat during the performance, and still gave us the chills days afterwards. This is really strong stuff, and for us it even overpowered the final act which sees an American arrive to kick shit all over everything.
We're serious about wearing your Castro hat to the play. Yes, it seems like you might come off as a cheesy idiot wearing a Castro hat to a play about Fidel's revolution, but this is the Rep; you'll be surrounded by the Bourgeoisie who'll think it's cute and may be a little afraid of you. And you'll learn a little about what you're saying when you wear that thing.
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Sorry to disagree on this one - The Cook is a really, really, lame production, with wooden acting and a primitive, one dimensional script. Nothing happens on stage - except woman leaves her house and her child returns in act 3. That's it.
Sample dialog from Act 3 "You mean x (I forgot the exact name), the retired general that lives down the street". Ah, yeah, that guy. Clunky, clunky exposition - and in Act 3! Turns out it matters not who this person is.
The father figure has no hint of a Spanish accent, except for the fact the 'Cuba' is pronounced 'Cooba'. One way or the other, I don't care which, but flat American accents don't say Cooba.
There are many interesting issues to discuss in the current state of Cuba. Sadly this play has none.
Awesome--a reader who has seen the play.
A woman sits down with her husband and tells him that no, he can't have his girlfriend and their son move in with them, and he can turn her beloved gay cousin in to the secret police for all she cares, all while the three of them choke down a plate of tamales, and nothing happens on stage?
Alright, maybe things seem a bit stiff in the third act where the script calls for some kind of impossible crescendo of emotion surrounding the American girl, but I think it's a bit harsh to hang that on the production. It's like asking them to crank it up to 11 in the final act after the whole of the second has been performed at 10.
My last thought on this one -
There are some things that are mentioned in the second act, such as the betrayal of the gay character. But there's precious little pathos delivered on stage for this grueling decision. Show us, don't tell us.
Likewise the decision surrounding the girlfriend (and isn't that her daughter, not the son, in act 3?). Outside of some pat statements, the play presents very little on either of these wrenching decisions.
Sorry, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one - but I do love reading this blog!