A comedy we all need to watch
Full of profanity, innuendos and laughs – behind all the laughter, Cooking with Kathryn quietly examines the age-old question of a woman’s role in life, writes Aneela Aslam.
Kate Owens (creator and star of Cooking with Kathryn) is legendary as the southern belle Kathryn who presents the community cooking show in place of her mother, also Kathryn, who has passed away.
From the very beginning, Owens commands the stage and captivates the audience. Bounding around in a fuchsia ensemble, the blouse held together at the back by bulldog clips, she is never still. Her use of movement is comedic genius: Whether questionably making up her face after seeing her boyfriend of 12-days in the audience, or breaking eggs all over herself, both earn roars of laughter from the crowd.
Particularly clever is Owens’ use of music. Each piece is introduced by Kathryn asking Alexa to play the something appropriate – “Alexa, play kitchen music”, or “Play wedding music”.
A projector slideshow sharing the history of a whole line of Kathryns and their duty to have daughters called Kathryn – as well as get married – marks the central message of the play. But should a tradition be continued, even if it makes everyone miserable? The community cooking show actually becomes a very thin metaphor for the expectation on a woman to get married and produce children… Kathryn jokes that her “eggs are bad” when she’s unable to crack them into the mixture properly.
By the end of the play, she admits that she’s a terrible cook, forcing us to consider that maybe the reason some women lack culinary talent isn’t because they are destined to be “bad wives”, but simply that they are meant to be something else.
Relying on audience participation, Kathryn stages a wedding with her boyfriend Jeremy – conveniently pulling out a blazer, veil and bouquet from her handy prop cupboard. After exchanging vows there is an interpretive dance depicting a “bedding ceremony” for the virgin bride, before she stops the ceremony to admit that she is not a virgin.
At the end, though, comes her greatest confession as she sings about her prior unholy transgressions, including pre-marital sex, self-pleasure and other sins. By combining angelic lighting beaming onto our heroine, the music and the makeup, the final act perfectly pays homage to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’, and is equally as scandalous.
The issue of women being pressured into marriage is, I argue, more important now than ever before. Every time a male politician uses banning abortion as a policy-point, or when independent women with a world of dreams are asked when they plan on getting married, it proves plays like Cooking with Kathryn are vital. After all, “there’s never been a happy Kathryn.”
In a world of the same formulaic shows and similar online content readily available, this play is authentic and meaningful; a comedy we all need to watch after a long day at work.
Soho Theatre, Upstairs until 10th January at 6.45pm. Duration: 60 minutes.
Booking and full details: https://sohotheatre.com/events/kate-owens-cooking-with-kathryn/
