ARCOLA THEATRE LONDON – UNTIL 30th MARCH, 2024
Reviewed by Jackie Thornton
4****
Kate and Dom face up to some tough home truths in this powerful two-hander about love,
death and grief. It’s the first in-house production from Actors East, a grassroots development system for creatives and artists founded by filmmaker and actor James Alexandrou aimed at lowering the barrier to entry in the arts. Alexandrou, who you may recognise as Martin Fowler from Eastenders, directs and has also written this one act play with co-star Kate Kelly Flood and, first time writing for stage, Dom Morgan. It’s the result of hundreds of hours of improvisation boiled down and edited with an ethos that privileges the actors’ devising skills in creating theatre.
Casserole is very much a collaborative piece with Paulina Camacho and Paul Weedle sharing the set design credit. Indeed, the first thing that strikes you upon entering the studio basement at the Arcola, is how much the production has gone to town in creating the naturalistic setting of a cramped London flat. There’s no sense of cosiness in this bombsite. Takeaway cartons strewn around, dirty dishes piling up in the sink and clutter everywhere, the space feels as neglected as the couple’s relationship.
Opening with a topless Dom, swigging lager and caterwauling to Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer while trying to fix a bike puncture, the aroma of a casserole fills the space as it’s heated in the microwave – a ticking time bomb of mundanity and emotion. Enter Kate, dressed to the nines for a Music Video Awards ceremony and dripping wet after suffering a panic attack and fleeing home, catching Dom on the hop. It’s been barely a year since Kate’s mum Beverley died and the wound is still raw, especially as she’s weighed down by guilt from not getting to say a proper goodbye. So when Kate discovers that Dom has thoughtlessly microwaved the last meal her mother ever cooked for her, the stage is set for a highly strung outpouring of bitter recriminations and pent up emotion.
It’s an intense evening that we spend with the couple, broken up with a few lighter, comic moments; particularly enjoyable is Dom’s rant about the pretentiousness of awards ceremonies as he begrudgingly gets dressed to accompany Kate back to her special night. Unemployed music video director Dom’s resentment towards an industry that has left him behind is scarcely concealed as high flying Kate’s grievances at being the sole breadwinner bubble to the surface too.
Flood and Alexandrou excel as they tear strips off of one another while still showing us Kate and Dom’s vulnerability, leaving us wondering if this relationship will survive the night.