Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Memory is a Culinary Affair, presented at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, feels like watching a soap opera that had too many seasons. Every time it seems as though the plot has been established, another plot point gets shoved in your face. Before you know it, the play is dealing with way too many mini-plot points that never get resolved. The play is only a little over an hour, which is not enough time to create several plots that are not connected to each other. Not only that, but also the play is too much of a discussion about the past and not a conflict about the present.

Even to give the most basic synopsis of the play feels like a soap opera because there are too many overdramatic stories. First the story is about an Argentinean woman (Carina) and the fact that her sister is dating her ex-boyfriend. Then the plot gets ignored and it becomes a story about how Carina feels pressured to move in with her boyfriend. Then it is a story about how Carina’s mother was raped and taken away when Carina was a little girl because, oh by the way, she was a Jew living in Argentina. Then it is a story about how Carina has a long-lost brother. Are you exhausted yet“

The stories in Memory is a Culinary Affair have the potential to be interesting, but there are too many of them for one play. Each story could be several episodes of a television show and it is too ambitious to have all those stories in one play.

The direction of this production also is very soap opera-ish. Everyone in the cast makes over-the-top choices and get so worked up in an untruthful way. The cast does their best, but they are giving into the over drama. Mariana Parma (Carina) has some decent moments, but her relationship with the various other characters is unclear. Benjamin Joseph is tense as her boyfriend Marc, so it is hard to believe that she has a history and a relationship with him. Ydaiber Orozco (Flor) speeds through her lines and Michelle Concha (Blanca) is too self-indulgent and tries to work the tears whenever possible. Not to mention, there is no consistency in the Argentinean accents. Some sound even American, which takes the audience member out of the world of the play. Miguel Belmonte as Pablo is the strongest actor because he makes varied choices, but even he suffers from the overacting the rest of the cast is a victim of.

With work, Memory is a Culinary Affair has the potential to be a powerful work. It deals with legitimate issues about race and social values. However, it needs to eliminate all the melodrama before it can have any hope of being powerful.