Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Low Down
Actor and former restaurant owner Eduardo Estrela brings us ona journey through a Brazilian culinary experience. Presented as a one-man play, What’s in the Kitchen is a new take on dinner theatre.
Review
What’s in the Kitchen is unlike any fringe show I’ve ever seen. I would argue that the website description is a bit of a departure from what the show actually is. I expected a cooking demonstration, a story about the food. What I found in the tent on George Street was a one-man play about the lives of chefs in São Paulo, Brazil. Our man on stage, Eduardo Estrela, plays a number of characters from celebrity chefs to an old Brazilian-Italian grandmother. He showcases a strong personal range while highlighting the diversity in Brazilian cuisine.
The centerpiece of the performance, unsurprisingly, is the food. Audience members are given a giftbag and a small drink upon entering the theatre, I’d recommend bringing a bottle of water with you. Within the bag are a number of containers and packages labeled with numbers. DO NOT EAT UNTIL INSTRUCTED! The order is important, and Estrela provides a guided tasting between characters. I was concerned at first by the size of the meal, but it was extremely filling, and perfectly delicious. I am a theatremaker, not a chef, but I’d consider the meal of restaurant quality, and already worth the cost of the ticket.
The show is primarily in Portuguese, supertitled on a projection screen above the stage. The stage, and in part the staging, are where the show is challenged. I say challenged because there is a distinct difference between choices that negatively impact the work and, specifically at the Fringe, a challenging venue allocation. Although large and easy to read, the English translation sits extremely high above the stage making it difficult to read and watch at the same time. Similarly, the venue’s seating is tight, making it cumbersome to open the food packages and eat them. Finally, the stage is notably set back from the audience (a departure from many of the thrusts we see throughout the city) which creates a separation that a show about the intimacy of food would hope to avoid.
I want to take a moment here to commend Estrela on how he handles all of this. He brings a commanding and confident presence, and acts as though these challenges don’t exist. He is so locked-in with his storytelling that it would seem an earthquake couldn’t shake him. The question that remains, then, is whether powering through these challenges is better than addressing them? I’ll leave that for the audience to decide.
