My English Persian Kitchen review – a theatrical feast

Is there anything more satisfying than a lovingly prepared meal? Well, perhaps, one that is served up as a side to good theatre. My English Persian Kitchen by Hannah Khalil is a thoroughly flavourful feast of a play that transports its audiences, through its aromatic delights, into an Iranian kitchen.

Adapted from the real life of Atoosa Sepehr , the play tracks one unnamed woman’s fast escape from her abusive husband in her home country of Iran and her subsequent settling in England. I’d expect hearing the account, which is rich in emotion and nostalgia, would be deeply poignant even if told without all the glorious trimmings added by Khalil. But here it is shared as the woman (a tremendous Isabella Nefar) cooks up a delicious, fragrant ash-e-reshteh live on stage.

Watching it, then, feels like a breaking of bread. Nefar addresses the audience as if we were invited guests in her own home. She teaches us the secrets of her recipe, while the scents of mint, parsley, frying garlic and onions fill the air. Her speech sits somewhere between a TV chef addressing viewers and a genuine friend: we relax into her warm, soft narration as soon as she begins.

This gentle presence makes the moments where she is haunted by her husband’s violence all the more alarming. The kitchen light glares like a ghost from her history. Her husband’s voice slithers, disturbingly, into now. The new London terrain brings with it a feeling of isolation: her words aren’t understood; she’s treated like an outsider. Iranian delicacies, even if prepared far away from home, are the only constant.

Food tells stories. With the plating of a dish comes a simultaneous serving of memory. Although written as a love letter to an Iranian kitchen, Khalil’s script explores the more universal experience of living as an immigrant in a foreign country. Cooking up and sharing food from a distant culture with neighbours is a hand extended into a new life.

The meaning of community sits at the heart of the play. And, if Khalil hoped to build a sense of affiliation in the theatre, then she more than succeeds – let’s just say we leave satisfied in more than one way. This is a recipe, affectionately constructed, ready to be savoured.

• At the Traverse, Edinburgh , until 25 August
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