My English Persian Kitchen – Traverse Theatre

World Premier

A unique play involving the live creation (and ultimate consumption) of a popular Iranian soup dish, ash-e-reshteh, which is, we are told, dished out on the streets of Iran every day, as common as Ice cream. Cultural differences are at the centre of this story by award-winning writer Hannah Khalil. Adapted from the real life story of Atoosa Sepehr as she flees from Iran to escape an abusive husband, and her subsequent journey to settle in England.

Isabella Nefar (Salome, National Theatre) welcomes us into Traverse 2 as though to a dinner party, smells of chopped onions, herbs and spices waft through the space. There is a buzz of conversation. Food, a bridge of the senses, cultures, the very essence of our being, and within the ceremony of sharing food, the hand of friendship is extended. And so we start, with onions, always onions, and with Nefar’s soft narration of the wonders of, more expensive than gold, Safron, of mint and garlic and onions. We relax. Turmeric and black pepper are anti-inflammatory and can cure cancer. It’s Proven! Nefar assures us with a smile.

Only for the spell to be broken moments later by a brief slithering phrase in Farsi escaping from Nefar’s lips, seemingly involuntary, like a vomit, her husband’s voice.

She’s my wife and its shameful that she wants to leave me….

FOCUS! Nefar tells herself.

The soup making continues, broken by Nefar’s involuntary recounting, in non-linear fashion in broken, fractured images and memories, and in her body movements, jerky and puppet-like. At one memorable point, the narrator suddenly yanks open the fridge behind her, she is silhouetted against the fridge interior, she jumps in and pulls the door behind her, plunging the auditorium into total darkness as the door seals.   

We sit in the silent darkness. A full minute later she emerges peering nervously around, before refixing her smile and returning to her almost tv-cook persona. It’s oddly effective. The subtle novelty of this play teases out the contradictions of cooking, which is so often a deeply gendered, often a controlling act, from which, in some cultures, there is seemingly no escape.

A play which plays on the senses like no other, and leaves a lasting taste, long after the bowl is finished.

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 11^th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: