'Meetings' Review
With its keen wit and incisive focus on the frequent gulf between what is deemed material progress and the foundation of a simpler way of life, Mustapha Matura’s 1981 play remains as relevant as ever, brought vividly to life in Kalungi Ssebandeke’s pinsharp production at the Orange Tree.
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Our verdict
As the drama opens we see Hugh and Jean, an upwardly mobile Trinidadian couple, both business people and intimately involved with the island’s future, Hugh connected with its water supply, Jean an advertising executive involved with promoting a new brand of untested cigarettes.
The characters speak with Trinidadian inflections and all the action revolves around Olivia Jamieson’s pristine kitchen and one can soon see why, it’s a shiny, up-to-date environment displaying their affluence but is rarely actually used, Jean eschewing cooking in the wake of endless work meetings.
Hugh is beginning to feel beguiled by the foods of his childhood and his yearning to taste these dishes become a fully-fledged passion when he hires Elsa, an effervescent young girl who can recreate the chip chip soup, swordfish, and other culinary delights reminiscent of his youth.
Slowly the broadly comic tone of the early scenes with its light, amicable banter between the couple deepens and darkens into something far more sinister as Jean’s avaricious and all-encompassing materialism emerges and Hugh finds himself drawn back to a simpler life, albeit one with unsettling tinges of Shango and tribal life.
The way Matura examines the dichotomy between the commercial idea of progress at the expense of social responsibility and the pull of a simpler, more meaningful life is perennially interesting. It’s a scenario Ssebandeke (recent recipient of the JMK Young Directors Award) does full justice to, aided by a wonderful cast of three, amongst whom Martina Laird’s glamorous, unscrupulous Jean is particularly memorable, completely plausible as she unravels the deeply unsavoury aspects of an initially amiable character.
There’s so much stimulating food for thought here but the play’s ending with Hugh’s abrupt departure seems rather forced and unconvincing, as does the sudden dark fate befalling the villagers; nonetheless it’s a first-rate production of a nuanced and thoroughly absorbing play.
