It’s a real shame that that the Bruiser Theatre Company’s production of Lee Hall’s Cooking with Elvis is so very good. Stewart is a would-be lothario whose idiocy and sexual incontinence lead him into trysts with all of the cast members. Cooking with Elvis Wikipedia Cooking with Elvis is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. The play's ending is a little trite, but if you can stomach strong meat then Cooking with Elvis is a spicy meal to get your teeth into. His emergence from a fairy-lit cupboard, like a be-quiffed Mr Tumnus, next to the rutting bodies of his teenage daughter and the lodger, is another richly comic moment. Jill is primarily interested in cookery books. At first content to describe his interest in burgers and capes, concerns about erectile dysfunction lead him into visions of 'sodomites rutting in the cornfields' and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love. The sets ingeniously fold and slide, producing doors from flock-patterned dividing walls and staircases from kitchen units. Cooking with Elvis is a domestic play that is both farcical and upsetting. Nerve Centre You can stop there, but to give it that Barring Stanley. She doesn’t have the funny lines that Mam gets or her father’s karate kicking set-pieces, yet she’s on stage almost constantly. The scene where he chummily decides to give Elvis a 'helping hand' is one of the comic high-lights of the play. Cooking with Elvis is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. The character describes the action of each forth-coming scene with unnatural glee. Cooking with Elvis is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. Other characters include his anorexic, alcoholic wife Mam (Charlie Hardwick), their fourteen-year-old daughter Jill (Sharon Percy), and their young lover Stuart (Frank Skinner). He is cared for, after a fashion, by his alcoholic and anorexic wife, Mam (Jo Donnelly) and Jill (Nuala McGowan), his food-obsessed 14 year old daughter. 'Cooking With Elvis' is 'bad taste' theatre at its highest level: it questions the validity of the notion of the 'dysfunctional' family - all families struggle to make sense - and love - out of the everyday. Derry/Londonderry Jo Donnelly, as the booze-addled English teacher mother, gives a performance of astonishing range. He is cared for, after a fashion, by his alcoholic and anorexic wife, Mam (Jo Donnelly) and Jill (Nuala McGowan), his food-obsessed 14 year old daughter. Cooking with Elvis tells the story of an Elvis impersonator (Stephen Beggs) cut down in his hip-swivelling prime by a car accident and left in a permanent vegetative state. She veers from a jelly-legged seduction of the hapless Stewart to a dark-night confessional, threading her fingers through the spokes of her husband’s wheelchair. It's at this point when The comedy centres on Dad (Joe Caffrey), a famous impersonator of rock 'n' roll star Elvis Presley, who was paralyzed in a car crash and is now forced to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. If I had any misgivings they would lie with the play itself. Cooking With Elvis was a huge success at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in the West End, and now you can see it at Derby Theatre, in our first ever professionally produced show. 75 Followers. This Elvis sheet cake combines bananas, peanut butter, bacon and honey in the most tasty way. The play has four characters, Dad, a famous Elvis impersonator who is now paralyzed because of a car accident, his promiscuous, alcoholic and anorexic wife Mam, his 14 year old daughter Jill, who grows obsessed with food to cope with his family life, and Stuart, a good looking young baker who sleeps with them. At one time, Dad, already dressed in his Elvis costume, leaps from his wheelchair and launches into an Elvis ballad. Cooking With Elvis was a huge success at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in the West End, and now you can see it at Derby Theatre, in our first ever professionally produced show. Nuala Magowan has perhaps the hardest role as Jill, the food-scientist and focus for the drama. At other times a wardrobe door will be opened for Elvis to leap out and into another song with Mam and Jill as backup singers. It also allows for the mechanism of the cast breaking character to rearrange the set between scenes, scat-singing all the while, regardless of the emotional content of the preceding or following scenes. 13 Tracks. It’s a great conceit to use Jill as a human title-card. email:info@culturenorthernireland.org, Woman of the Year in Art, Lisa May of Bruiser Theatre Company reveals where she stands on catchy pop and much more, Bruiser Theatre Company's new production is Brit pop theatre at its best. Jill tries to replace him with cooking. Mark Fisher, Guardian, 18.7.09 'Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall is one of Britain's most mercurial dramatists. The show was by turns camp, comic horrific, and in-your-face, a tragic farce about child abuse, wife abuse, sex, loss and cooking."[1]. She is her own Greek-chorus, from the opening strains of 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' to the rousing last notes of “Amazing Grace”. Stewart, you feel, would flourish in a prison environment. It ought to leave anyone over 14, who has sense and sensibility, in need of a mild mouth-wash. Stream Tracks and Playlists from cookingwithelvis on your desktop or They have the beauty and simplicity of giant origami, a perfect illustration of Bruiser’s ethos: “minimal set for maximum impact”. Jill narrates the drama, introducing each scene with glittering eyes and a rictus grin. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll was a big fan of big flavors and comforting Southern dishes. It’s this insistence on the reality of an audience that is the frame-work for the piece. The banana sheet cake whips up quickly and is topped with a pour over peanut butter icing. Brought home by Mam, Stuart soon figures in everyone's sex life, including the brain-damaged "Elvis" who seems to have at least one part of his anatomy functioning. Mam and Jill live together in an uneasy calm. It's a dark comedy with a light heart and flows well except when there is a sudden change in Elvis' monologues. Lee Hall developed Cooking with Elvis from a BBC Radio play, Blood Sugar which was a part of his award winning God's Country series. Cooking with Elvis tells the story of an Elvis impersonator (Stephen Beggs) cut down in his hip-swivelling prime by a car accident and left in a permanent vegetative state. 'There's lots of harmonies and physicality and comedy and tragedy. When an amateur Elvis impersonator is paralysed in a car crash, his family are forced to cope with the aftermath. “Cooking With Elvis: 'That subjects of such sensitivity can be made even vaguely funny is a considerable achievement. Lisa May directs with a hand so firm she could have baked it in vinegar. If you’re going to put a tortoise in a play you are going to need to make that tortoise work for you! Cooking with Elvis is a dark comedy by playwright Lee Hall which was performed in 1999 in Edinburgh. Written by Lee Hall, author of Billy Elliot and Bollocks, this play was said to “propel Lee Hall into the big time”. 7-8 Magazine Street Mam is locked in a battle with her daughter, who disapproves of the fact that her mother has a very indiscreet sexual liaison with Stuart, a handsome young baker, in the marital home. It’s a bit slow to start, the resolution is fairly contrived and unconvincing and Stanley the tortoise’s story doesn’t really go anywhere. For example, there are ornate belts with gold padlocks and many spangles. She announces the action and allows the play to be as dark as the subject matter dictates, while maintaining a joyful lightness of touch. He The farce was adapted from a play written for the award-winning BBC Radio God's Country series and premiered in 1999 in Edinburgh. According to Richard Paul Knowles, one of the most popular shows in Edinburgh in 1999 was "Lee Hall's anarchic Cooking with Elvis, performed beneath one or three crystal chandeliers which hung next to a disco ball at one end of the Ballroom, a lush old gilded space in some decay at the heart of the Assembly Rooms. When an amateur Elvis impersonator is paralysed in a car crash, his wife and daughter are forced to cope with the aftermath. Cooking With Elvis Bruiser Theatre Company's production of Lee Hall's funny (and filthy) Cooking With Elvis. Magowan is well up to the task, delivering a sure-footed and energetic performance. I left the theatre with my palate jaded, although I succumbed to the odd smile and laughter from time to time. Jill is overweight and a … For more information, see Culture Northern Ireland's What's On listings. 'It’s like looking at the workings of a pocket-watch that is singing doo-wop and shifting furniture'. The farce was adapted from a play written for the award-winning BBC Radio God's Country series and premiered in 1999 in Edinburgh. BT48 6HJ, ph: 028 7126 0562 Cooking with Elvis is similar to these topics: Victoria & Abdul, Not About Heroes, Lee Hall (playwright) and more. I’m afraid I will be using all of the latter in this review, and possibly borrowing a few more from high-minded friends. Family life with all its vagaries, agonies, and traumas, but it’s all in the telling of the story. '” – Mark Fisher, Guardian, 18.7.09 “'Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall is one of Britain's most mercurial dramatists Mam's sexual need is echoed in Jill’s appetite for food which leads to her being overweight. It was also performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000, where it was highly acclaimed. Stephen Beggs delivers an increasingly paranoid and apocalyptic King. After some trouble, the play has a deadly ending, Cooking with Elvis has been compared to the early black farces of Joe Orton. 1.9K likes. Shortly afterwards it transferred to the Whitehall Theatre in London's West End in a production starring the comedian Frank Skinner, Sharon Percy, Charlie Hardwick and Joe Caffrey. To end on an awful pun of my own, this production was performed with some truly amazing grace. The lovers provide cooing backing vocals between thrusts. In another scene, Singing Elvis becomes Reverend Elvis who starts making bizarre speeches about philosophy, drugs and sodomites - references to Presley's consumption of drugs and, according to reviewer Rich See, the gay rumors that continue to swirl around Presley, namely, his "obsession with James Dean and his alleged affair with actor Nick Adams." Cooking with Elvis, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 10–Sat 25 July. It's fairly rare to find an Elvis impersonator and a tortoise sharing a stage and yet here we have it in Lee Hall's Cooking with Elvis.First staged at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe with a subsequent transfer to the West End, Cooking with Elvis is back in London serving up a tasty treat. Stream Cooking with Elvis Monologue by theatrechick017 from desktop or your mobile device These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. Cooking With Elvis started life off as a radio play, but Live Theatre's production buzzes with both surreal visual gags and verbal one-liners. Cooking with Elvis gives a new dimension to kitchen sink drama. Cooking With Elvis is touring throughout Northern Ireland during September and October. Mam and Jill scowl out into the audience, daring them not to laugh. by Lee Hall. Mam and Jill live together in an uneasy calm. 'Cooking With Elvis' is directed by Michael Gow who has long … Listen to cookingwithelvis | SoundCloud is an audio platform that lets you listen to what you love and share the sounds you create.. Paris. THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Lee Hall's Cooking With Elvis is a juvenile comedy of sexual manners in bad taste. It is a classic of its time and Ovation’s production does it no shame. Cooking With Elvis Lee Hall has included everything a comedy should have in his landmark play - a man in a persistent vegetative state, pedophilia, masturbation with savory overtones and cannibalism. When an amateur Elvis impersonator is paralysed in a car crash, his wife and daughter are forced to cope with the aftermath Jill tries to replace him with cooking, Mam tries to replace him with sex Unfortunately, they both try out their It was also performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000, where it was highly acclaimed. The choreography is neatly done and the sets dismantled and rebuilt between scenes with astonishing efficiency. Check out what our audience thought of Cooking With Elvis. [2], Lizzie Loveridge, "A Curtain up London Review: Cooking with Elvis", Rich See, "A Curtain Up DC Review: Cooking with Elvis", From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis, Elvis sings The Wonderful World of Christmas, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee, Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances, Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II, Suspicious Minds: The Memphis 1969 Anthology, The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters, From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters, Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters, Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings, The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cooking_with_Elvis&oldid=991564996, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 November 2020, at 18:50. When there is a classic of its time and Ovation ’ s production does it no shame the level! 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