This monday we went to watch "La cocina" a play written by Arnold Wesker at the centro cultural Britanico. The play was entertaining to watch and it had some really interesting moments not only in terms of the dialogue but also the way the stage design elements interacted with the play.


Something I found really interesting was the way the stage was constantly changing. At certain scenes the cooking equipment and tables would be moved around in different arrangements. In one scene two tables are put on each side of the stage, there had been a fight between two characters and each occupied one side of the stage, the arrangement of the tables allowed for this idea to be clearer, and also to be able to see which characters sided which one. Since we as an audience do not know about the relationships of the characters right away, a simple division like this is immensely useful to get an insight into these relationships. In one of the choreographies when the kitchen is supposed to be working on full throttle, the tables are moved and put together across the stage, allowing for us to see what each character was doing, all facing the front, now if the stage would've been fixed, then this effect wouldn't have been possible. Once the tables were put in this arrangement, we were not only able to see every character and what they were doing, but it also gave the feeling of a factory, a production line. Now, we usually imagine the culinary world to be very artistic and sophisticated, and a factory certainly doesn't come to mind when we think of cooking, but this is the feeling expressed in the scene. I guess that just like the many cooking programs in TV like "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" and "Top chef" this play was also trying to show the actual inner workings of a kitchen, and tries to de-glamour it. It also shows us a real perspective on how life is to these people working on the kitchen, where prejudice, fights and sex are always as present as they are outside of the kitchen. 


In a couple of moments in the play, there would be a sudden fading of the lights and only a spotlight would illuminate only two characters, as they talked and interacted, everything around them would happen in slow motion. Instantly it made us focus our attention towards them, suddenly the feeling is more personal, we were now watching the intimate relationship between two people, we were forcefully put in a situation where we were invading their privacy. The fact that everything around them as happening slower made me feel that even though everything is still happening around them, nothing but themselves matters. Also, communication is much faster than words, so maybe all we saw transmitted in the dialogue was the full extent of their communication, subtext included, that's why I think everything around them was happening slowly, because their level of communication was faster. And even though spotlights seem cliché, in this particular moment in the play, due to the slow movement behind, and the attention to detail, it seemed a tool to convey the extent of a relationship, instead of an easy way to grab the attention of the audience. 


Overall the play had its ups and downs, there were moments where I was totally drawn into it like the spotlight moments, or the choreographies in the kitchen rush hour, but there were also moments where the dialogue became too monotonous, and nothing was really happening.


At some parts of the play there were a lot of noises and different conversations going on, for examplw when they were all sitting at a table in the front, some actors were giving the back to the audience, this made it seem like a realist play, trying to imitate life, but then it completely changed when they moved the arrangement of the furniture and started making choreographies and the sounds were not life-like. Is there a name for a play which mixes these styles?