Cooked by Angel Duggan and Lana Page
At KXT on Broadway Downstairs
Creative Team
Director: Laura Jackson
Writer/Performer: Angel Duggan
Writer/Performer: Lana Page
Performer: Sally Evans
Lighting and Sound Designer: Sansona Trinh
Costume, Set and Props Design: Sam Hollingshead
Producers: Angel Duggan and Lana Page
I feel a lot of hard work went into this production but I’m not sure if it was cooked, more like half baked.
“Christmas this year is “cooked.” Logan’s world is tested when her mum starts to come home late, disappears, and acts ‘off’. She looks to her best friend Jean for support, however a new boyfriend – the kind that you have a ‘funny feeling’ about – begins to test their friendship. Full of vaping, Tn’s, Kookai, and ‘woo woo energy’, these women navigate their insecurities, judgements and some hard truths about each other.
Christmas is fucked but maybe New Years will be better?”
We never heard about New Years funnily enough. A lot like the ending, where we didn’t really get a conclusion.
The play tries to dabble with some heavy hitting themes about alcoholism, depression and domestic violence but nothing really hits the mark. I thought I’d be coming out of this play crying but instead felt rather empty. This could have been the playwright’s intension.
I understand why actors start writing their own work so they can create opportunities for themselves and others but sometimes as playwrights, actors are too close to the material, so they don’t quite get there and connect. A lot of sections of the play seemed over rehearsed and not in the moment. There was a lot of playing to the balcony and not the people in front of you, which made it feel really disconnected. Perhaps the show needs to be workshopped more. Opening the play with some super out of tune singing was a choice!
This was their second show in a short run at BXT on Broadway downstairs. I wonder if some of the issues I saw were to do with the classic second show slump.
The space downstairs is tiny, it could do with some slightly raked seating, as sight lines are a problem unless you are in the front row. The speakers are deafening; the high volume is not needed for such a small space. They were so distracting throughout the entire play and so many moments were destroyed because of this. Like the seats upstairs, these are just as uncomfortable. It was lucky the play was only 55 minutes long. Take a cushion with you.
Sally Evans performance as Mum was quite the standout. She craftily balanced quirky comedy, melodrama and very dramatic scenes with ease.
It is lovely to see a full house with so many people supporting live theatre.
To book tickets to Cooked, please visit https://cookedtheplay.weebly.com.
Photographer: The Garage Photo Studio
