Caroline’s Kitchen is a transfer of a British farce that was very popular there. Maybe they will cling to anything to divert them from Brexit. It is certainly a manic comedy with characters keeping secrets from each other running in and out of the set.

The concept is that TV cooking show host Caroline (Caroline Langrishe) has friends and families that all have issues with themselves and each other go after everyone else as a storm mounts outside to catastrophic levels and the kitchen set steadily disintegrates. A prop department’s nightmare.

The problem is that Torben Betts’ script provides no one to root for or identify with in the show. Essentially the play throughs a lot of deception and alcohol at a group of damaged people and allow them to fight it out. More like a Jerry Springer show and not a person onstage I’d like to spend teatime with. Director Alastair Whatley keeps it moving briskly the other performers (Jasmyn Banks, James Sutton, Tom England, Aden Gillett, Elizabeth Boag) are all game and get quite the workout. I admired their stamina.

Much of the audience enjoyed themselves very much but there were a number who agreed to me and were not amused.

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