Meetings by Mustapha Matura

The Arcola Theatre presents a revival of this 1991 dark comedy by Mustapha Matura, and gives us another chance to examine the identity issues that arise when globalisation pits tradition against progress in 1980’s Trinidad. Young and at the top of their game, husband and wife entrepreneurs, Hugh (Nicholai La Barrie) and Jean (Inika Leigh Wright), have everything they could possibly want out of life but is it enough? When Hugh begins to yearn for some home cooking, the type he used to eat when he was a growing boy, we begin to notice that not all things that come from progress are necessarily good.

Hugh and Jean live in a stylish neighbourhood, in a stylish house, with a fabulous kitchen, complete with all the latest appliances. The only thing it lacks is food. When Hugh meets a street vendor who sells the types of food his mother used to make when he was young, he begins to realise what he is missing. Jean can cook but won’t. She is too busy landing the biggest deal of her career for an American Tobacco company that has chosen Trinidad as the proving ground for its latest product. Tired of Chicken and Chips every night, Hugh tells Jean he wants a cook for his birthday, one that can cook all the foods he used to eat as a boy. After an exhaustive search, they finally employ Elsa (Davinia Anderson) the grand-daughter of the street vendor, who’s skills (in the kitchen) delight Hugh, but provide Jean with an altogether different set of issues to worry about. A series of events ensues that lead to a somewhat tragic end for all concerned, but one in which questions of identity, for some at least, are partially resolved.

The play is set exclusively in the kitchen of the couple, and we are treated to a series of encounters as they pass each other on a daily basis. There are plenty of metaphors in this piece. Noticeably, the kitchen is spotless with everything in its place at the beginning of the piece. Throughout the play however, we see the state of the kitchen get progressively worse, as the couple’s relationship deteriorates. Likewise Hugh and Jean compliment each other when they are both operating from the same ‘progressive’ script however, as Hugh ‘regresses’ to a more traditional viewpoint, we begin to see how a relationship can quickly deteriorate.

Meetings is performed in two halves. In my opinion, the first half of the play lacked the impact and dynamism both in dialog and performance that the second achieved. I must admit that I found the continued to-ing and fro-ing from kitchen to door and back again for the variety of meals a little tedious after it was done for the third time. Wright delivered a strong performance as the morally-challenged wife, but I was disappointed with the performance from La Barrie which lacked the same level of intensity and belief in the character he portrayed. Another missing element, (though I suspect Health and Safety concerns may have been the reason) was cooking smells. I would have liked to have more of my senses challenged with this piece, although Hugh’s frequent exclamations of ‘GOOD!’ as he ate the food Elsa prepared for him, finally convinced me that the “’ol food” was indeed good food.

Meetings provides an insight into the clash between old and new, progress and tradition. Was Matura alerting us to a calamitous end if these two opposites cannot reach a compromise?, perhaps. You may decide that the piece does not stand up to contemporary issues on identity and I am not sure that it does. However it does at least challenge pre-conceptions of a region of the world that is continually associated with traditional lifestyles and may change your outlook.

Meetings continues at the Arcola Theatre until October 20th 2007, with a Matinee performance on Sat 20 October at 3pm and post show discussions on the10th and 17th. In addition there are Sign language interpreted performances on the 8th and 15th October.

http://www.arcolatheatre.com

This review was written for Extra Extra.