Concrete Playground

Everyone has a family story to tell, but we can't all be as good storytellers as Paul Capsis. In Angela's Kitchen he presents a fascinating play on the practice of biography, a microhistory of the migrant experience, a touching ode to a deeply loved woman and a reflection on his own lifetime of pretending and identity-seeking.

Capsis — writer, performer, cabaret singer and Kosky pet actor — has devised this production in collaboration with director Julian Meyrick and sounding board/writer Hilary Bell. It uses monologues, multicharacter (but single actor) skits, costume, hand-tinted photos, archival videos, pieces of cloth and objects to create a montage of the life of his grandmother Angela and the close relationship they shared. But what really galvanises Angela's Kitchen is Capsis's warmth, wry metre, open, elastic face and ability to inhabit a character within seconds.

Angela came to Australia from Malta with her family in 1948. It was one of the defining events in her life, along with poverty and World War II, during which residents of the strategically important tiny island would hide in deep-dug caves to escape the massive bombing campaign. Angela's family settled in Surry Hills, and it is in a modest kitchen there that Capsis relates to her most strongly. She was clearly a formidable woman and a nurturing influence, and through his bond with her, Capsis felt a life-long bond to Malta — a land of sun, sea and the explanation of self — even though he did not visit it until well into adulthood. His journey there parallels his grandmother's life story in this production.

Angela's Kitchen progresses through chapters, and the best bits are entirely surprising (static reading of a 64-member family tree? Awesome) and build on Capsis's off-kilter sense of humour. He makes eye contact and speaks directly to the audience several times in an honest, sweet and very personal performance well cradled by the intimate space. There's something in here for everyone to appreciate, but Angela's Kitchen will most deeply resonate with people who have known the pull of their motherlands and forged transnational identities.