Eduardo Machado\u2019s \u201cThe Cook\u201d at Berkeley Repertory Theatre hopscotches through 40 fraught years in slightly less than two hours \u2014 starting with Fidel Castro\u2019s triumphant, imminent arrival in Havana in 1958 and concluding (inconclusively, of course) with the devastating blockade that has upended Cuba\u2019s fortunes \u2014 there is one relationship that remains steady.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or so it seems to Gladys, the hard-working, devoted cook in a grand mansion in Havana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mansion\u2019s kitchen, where all the action takes place, is beautifully designed by Tanya Orellana, right down to the decorative tiles, the sconces on the wall \u2014 this is obviously a wealthy family \u2014 and the platters of pastry and meat pies being served by a maid to the dozens of unseen guests gathered in an adjacent room to celebrate New Year\u2019s Eve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gladys (a strong performance by Yesenia Iglesias) has been working for this elite white Cuban family since she was 12; she and the grande dame, Adria (Gisela Chipe) were girls together. When Adria suddenly sees the revolutionary writing on the wall she throws on her treasured black fur coat (the 1950s-style rich people\u2019s costumes are made by Toni-Leslie James) to escape to America. She asks Gladys to safeguard the house for her return, perhaps in a month or so. Gladys wants nothing more than to assure her friend of her loyalty. \u201cI\u2019ll believe you love me if you protect my home,\u201d Adria says.<\/p>\n
Despite the tensions in world around them, Gladys does not want to hear about politics. \u201cI\u2019m a great cook,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s who I am.\u201d Her husband, Carlos, the family\u2019s chauffeur (Daniel Duque-Estrada), agrees, but thinks she should be working in a fancy hotel restaurant, not catering to this entitled family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The revolution does come and nothing turns out exactly as expected for Gladys, Carlos and Gladys\u2019s cousin, Julio (Ashton Mu\u00f1iz), who is gay. As the play traverses the decades, only a young member of the extended family (played by Georgina Morillo) seems to have a focused, rational understanding of her place in Cuba\u2019s morphing future.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Americans in the United States have had a sort of side view of the changes in Cuban society wrought by the revolution. It\u2019s fascinating to see these changes over a four-decade trajectory, all played out by the various members of an interracial Cuban family. Racism is referred to but never examined in the play. This would seem like a good opportunity to really explore how, as one character says, a revolution can bring out the worst in everyone. Or maybe the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And certainly that\u2019s Machado\u2019s goal in this 20-year-old play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If only the dialogue and events in the first act were less wooden, the characters more nuanced, and the issues more developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it all feels uncomfortably like a mediocre TV family drama. Is director David Mendiz\u00e1bal looking for humor? If so, it doesn\u2019t work. But it\u2019s the clich\u00e9 interchanges and formulaic angst that\u2019s the problem: Carlos is having an affair. Adria suddenly tells Gladys she\u2019s pregnant. The fancy homemade ice cream dessert doesn\u2019t go as planned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet in the second act, everything feels different. It\u2019s 40 years later, Gladys has gray hair, Carlos is bald, and the revolution \u2014 from our American point of view anyway \u2014 is in tatters. An unexpected visitor from Miami (played by Chipe, who\u2019s better in this startling role) upends what we might have expected. The emotions she provokes feel complex and true; even the dialogue feels less stilted, more natural.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, there\u2019s a problem. Gladys\u2019 insistence on keeping Adria\u2019s house in order for a lifetime, of never leaving Cuba, is based not on her loyalty to the revolution, but loyalty to her old friend. But that bond is never convincing, in large part because Chipe\u2019s acting is surprisingly artificial amidst an otherwise strong cast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet Machado found the right ending for this drama. If only we could see a second installment, a follow-up to \u201cThe Cook.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Berkeley Repertory Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe Cook\u201d continues\u00a0through Oct. 11\u00a0at\u00a0Peet\u2019s Theatre,\u00a02025 Addison St., Berkeley. Tickets\u00a0are\u00a0$44 to\u00a0$114 at\u00a0berkeleyrep.org<\/a><\/p>\n The post Review: Berkeley Rep\u2019s \u2018The Cook\u2019 details how one family lived through Cuba\u2019s revolution<\/a> appeared first on Local News Matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eduardo Machado\u2019s \u201cThe Cook\u201d at Berkeley Repertory Theatre hopscotches through 40 fraught years in slightly less than two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-464291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}