CLYDE’S
Credit: Marc Brenner
Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage
There’s something about the do-or-die nature of a kitchen that sets the perfect table for a meaty script. The Bear, Boiling Point and now Clyde’s joins a slate of pulse-raising kitchen dramas that are full of heart. In the kitchen, there’s no time for dancing around the edges and in Clyde’s, we slice through the fat and get straight to the heart of the story. Frankie Bradshaw’s incredible hyper-realistic set takes us to the rundown kitchen of Clyde’s road-stop sandwich shop. Lynn Nottage gifts with a glorious, heart-warming story centring a group of ex-cons on a mission to create the perfect gourmet sandwich. The complex ingredients that make up these heavenly sandwiches, feel like a delicious metaphor of the complex lives laid out in front of us. We find out the decisions and moments that have brought the characters to this point and we see the beautiful imperfections in them. Lynette Linton’s production shows us that people are not their worst mistakes.
In Clyde’s kitchen, there is redemption, redemption that can be found under the wings of the Messianic character of Montrellous, played fabulously by Giles Terrera. Montrellous makes the simple act of making a sandwich an art, finishing his creations with a mystical flourish of garnish, punctuated brilliantly with winding lists of odd ingredients.
In Clyde’s purgatory takes on the form of a bustling Pennsylvania kitchen, with George Dennis’ sound design and Oliver Fenwick’s imaginative lighting design. Montrellous philosophises, dreams and captures the imaginations of his crew. Using food as his transformative medium. Terera gives Montrellous a charisma, gravity and warmth that has us hanging on to his every word. He is the foil to the play’s titular character, Clyde.
Clyde is the chain-smoking, trash-talking, short-fused woman in charge. Clyde is an ever-looming presence, the big bad lurking on the other side of the kitchen window ready to terrorise her employees at the flip of a switch. We get the feeling she might be a demon, with some well-placed hints. She sexually harasses and verbally abuses her employees relentlessly. She acts as a constant reminder of the precarious nature of being a former prisoner. Gbemisola Ikumelo performs this role brilliantly, she is pitch-perfect in her comedic moments, while simultaneously striking fear into the hearts of all.
Kane Husband’s stellar movement direction brings life to the performance, bringing finesse to the buzzy energy of the kitchen. As well as creating fantastic transitions where the darkness of the outside world and the characters' past that rumbles underneath the play, breaks through. Elevated again by Fenwick’s excellent lighting and Dennis’ sound design.
The true heart of this play is the found family that emerges between the crew of fast-talking, kitchen sweetheart Letitia (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo), Jason sensitive, shy, covered in white supremacist markings that speak to a darker past with questionable hygiene (Patrick Gibson) and Rafael (Sebastian Orozco) a passionate lover boy with his eyes on Letitia. They riff off of each other with a familiarity that speaks to pulling long shifts and working the lunchtime rush together. At times their exuberance has echoes of the joys of a playground. Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo was a true standout. She exists in the spotlight, talking a mile a minute and moving effortlessly between childlike joy, knocking jokes out of the park without missing a beat into deep gut-wrenching pain. She is a marvel.
This play is delightful and life-affirming. You can’t help but leave the theatre feeling renewed and full of hope. For an evening of laughter and maybe a few tears, Clyde’s is a must-watch.
★★★★★
Clyde’s is showing at the Donmar Warehouse till December 2nd.
