A stunning and intimate drama, Casserole by Actors East is the searing portrayal of a fractured relationship, a cauldron of emotion, and a fraught exploration of how self-destruction hurts those closest to us. Performing at the Arcola Theatre until 30th March, the play is a domestic tragedy following a pivotal moment in a couple’s time together, and from which they may not emerge intact. A two-hander that plays with the power of an ensemble cast, Casserole is sure to shock, and its take on millennial masculinity will leave some audiences shuddering.
Between the poles of ironic humour and gin-soaked rage, Casserole follows the intertwined stories of Dom and Kate, two music video professionals who cohabit and are supposedly in love. However, as we come to learn, their house is haunted by grief. Kate’s mother has died, ten months before the play’s opening, and has left behind an uneaten casserole in the freezer. Whilst Kate is out of the house, Dom drunkenly eats it, and begins a vicious downward spiral that traces the contours of his partner’s bereavement and his own failings, both professionally and as a man. What is left are two people without anywhere to go; with no home to go back to, they are trapped in the wreckage of what is revealed to be a tormented and difficult relationship built on shaky ground.
The show’s performances are stunning; sat in the Arcola Theatre’s basement, the stage blends seamlessly with the seating, and you can hear the actors breathe. Having been arranged to mimic the disorder of the couple’s flat, the set only adds to this sense of intimacy, drawing one further into the drama than perhaps they would like, and magnifying the extraordinary violence of the acting on display. Whether immersed in Kate Kelly Flood’s neuroticism and frantic fumbling throughout, or James Alexandrou’s spittle-marked fury, the experience is defined by the inescapable torsion of the script, and the sense of being dragged further down with every thud of the actors’ footsteps as they circuit their set. However, despite the bleak subject matter, the piece thrills and hooks its audience like nothing else. At times, theatregoers will be afraid to breathe, lest the characters onstage hear them, and it’s Alexandrou’s Dom that sits at the heart of this magic.
Casserole is ostensively about a relationship, but at its centre is a haunting vision of a man who knows that he is a monster, but believes that nothing can be done to change this. Whether it is the disorderly mess strewn about the flat, the bloody anger that flushes his cheeks, or the many betrayals that mark his relationship to Kate, the character of Dom is a magnificent and at times understated villain of the piece. A conjuration of millennial angst, and with an ego like a collapsing star, Dom’s raw and cathartic self-destruction provides a fire that brings the whole piece to life. A man with nothing but scorn for his past, who can only scramble towards his future without ever reaching it, the audience are treated to his numerous and bloody claw marks through the lives of those who surround him, and in this case through Kate as well. Once the full extent of his neglect is exposed, it becomes impossible to look away.
A fiery, cruel, and enlivening piece of theatre, fuelled by the flames of interpersonal strife, Casserole cannot be missed. Tickets can be bought at: arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/casserole/
