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No country for old women: Old Ladies - at Finborough Theatre

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The day after seeing The Old Ladies at the Finborough Theatre , I was describing the play to someone in great detail: about three old ladies who lived in a rickety house in southern England in 1935. Based on Hugh Walpole’s novel and adapted by Rodney Ackland, it is the sort of story with enough believability, humour and mild thriller to stick in your mind. Perhaps it is the lure of this dark, forboding tale of a life without money, to be alone and to be old, that makes you feel attracted to this poverty porn. But then again, given the state of the world, the cost of living, an ageing population, or just the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it might as well be an every little old lady-for-herself, too. It’s a well-acted and staged piece that moves at a brisk pace, so there isn’t much time to think about it too much. And in the intimate (or should that be claustrophobic?) space of the Finborough, there’s nowhere to avert your eyes. Even if you wanted to.  The scene is a grim Cathe...

Chop it up: Chef @Sohotheatre


One woman’s descent from a haute-cuisine head-chef to convicted inmate provides for some mouth watering entertainment in Sabrina Mahfouz’s Chef at the Soho Theatre. While it is not necessarily an unexpected journey, it provides enough interest for its short duration to make you wish you were not watching it on an empty stomach.

It all starts with a peach. With the simplest of ingredients,  Jade Anouka takes us through a range of courses that track her culinary career and the events that lead to her ending up in jail.

Food as her passion comes out more strongly in this piece than the stories of her troubled teenage years, domestic life and the need to keep things level while behind bars. The dialogue is so evocative of food, its preparation and presentation that it is bound to make you hungry.


There are also some smart witty lines in it: “The night is packed away into a black bin bag, tagged with a let’s not talk of that again, tomorrow will be better and maybe we should just get pizza.”

But you get the sense (particularly if you have ever watched any episodes of Orange is the New Black), that the troubled backdrop to extraordinary talented person behind bars has been covered more successfully elsewhere. And the shortness of the piece does not give it much time to delve deeply into anything.

Anouka is engaging throughout the piece as the cook with issues, and with a passion. And as a monologue and meditation on life choices and making art out of everyday activities it is fascinating.

It is a sparse production, with just a whiteboard covering the menu and the issues du jour and a stainless steel bench. But it is effective.

Chef was winner of an Edinburgh Fringe First 2014 and The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence. It is directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward and runs upstairs at the Soho Theatre until 4 July.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

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