True to its name, Upstream Theater takes us against the current again in "Cocinando Con Elisa," or "Cooking With Elisa," which opened over the weekend at the Kranzberg Theatre in Grand Center. An Argentine political parable, in its first English-language performance and its American premiere, the two-person drama is set in a glorious country kitchen that looks like a cross between Williams-Sonoma and Lulu Peyraud's Provencal home. Philip Boehm, the Upstream artistic director, did the translation from the original Spanish.
Jane Paradise is Nicole, the established, nasty egotistic cook for a wealthy Argentine family. Shanara Gabrielle, a Webster University alum here for a busy couple of months, is the title character, a rookie from an impoverished family hired to learn the kitchen routine. Gabrielle has been cast in the Rep production of "Macbeth" next month and also will direct the COCA production of "The Hundred Dresses" the last weekend of January.
The war between Nicole and Elisa represents the struggle of the Argentine right to keep control of the country, a conflict that included the dirty war between political extremes that resulted in thousands of deaths over the last quarter of the 20th century. The cooking, and the intricately described slaughter of various animals to prepare them for the pot, also serves as the battlefield between the women. Lamb feet, a pig's head, crayfish and pheasants (peasants, perhaps?) all take their turn under a series of chefs' knives, boning knives and cleavers, and time also is spent on the sharpening process.
The political and social gulf in which Nicole represents the right and Elisa the left is sharply widened by the former's busy sampling of any wine, brandy or gin that happens to be in the pantry, and by the latter's misadventure of becoming pregnant.
My problems with "Cooking With Elisa" involved a lack of information and background from the playwright, making it difficult to keep up with the goings-on. Paradise became unreasonably strident on occasion, and Gabrielle never seemed to inhabit her role as completely as she should. Still, anything Upstream does provides food for thought, and the current production even prepares it while we watch.
Director Bonnie Taylor does some intricate choreography as Nicole and Elisa maneuver around the butcher block and a stove, which serve to cramp the space, if not the style.
Scott C. Neale designed the intricate set, and kudos go to Kim Wilson and Kari Ely for their work on the props and to Sharon Tutko, the cooking consultant. Ann Wrightson designed very effective lighting and Michele Siler contributed the workmanlike costumes.
Cooking With Elisa, a production of Upstream Theater, is at the Kranzberg Black Box through Jan. 23