Food has always been at the center of my family. My Dad owned
a grocery store and a deli (however he never made a pastrami sandwich by
toasting the bread in a fry pan with butter it would be completely against our
culture) and he considered himself homegrown chef and butcher.
One of my daughters is a bona-fide Chef, another is an expert
at Middle Eastern cooking (she makes several variations of rice) having lived in
Israel for over sixteen years, and another is an amazing cook.
My grandmother stood over her stove all day long skimming the
fat off her chicken soup (Jewish penicillin) so not an iota of fat could be
detected.
My mother could cook up a storm in minutes. Yours truly-
nada! But that doesn’t mean food didn’t impact my thinking. It has always
been an equalizer in my family as I’m sure it is and will be for families like
mine, and others to come for generations.
 |
| Dana Lee and Brian Kim |
So at the end of Julia Cho’s “Aubergine” now in a thoughtful,
a bit depressing, and long (2and1/2
hours) play at the San Diego Rep. through Feb. 17th my
salivary glands went into overtime when I smelled the aroma of something being
cooked backstage. That’s how I roll.
Food though doesn’t exist in a vacuum. In Ray’s (Brian Kim)
Korean American family, like so many other families, food acts as a conduit for
everything that’s going on in his family, good/ bad or indifferent.
In his case his Father (Dana Lee excellent as the aloof and disappointed
parent) is dying of a liver disease and Ray is taking care of him at home
(Justin Humphries designed the versatile set) on the advice of the hospital staff. With
the guidance of his hospice nurse, Lucien (a convincing and tender Terrell
Donnell Sledge) who cradles a home grown eggplant or aubergine that he gives to
Ray, is right there to help. (On aubergines: “They hate to be cold, like me.
They need warmth and space. Pick them too soon or too late and they will not be
better. Knowing the right time that is part of the art.)
 |
| Brian Kin ans Audrey Park |
Ray is also recently estranged from his girlfriend Cornelia
(Audrey Park is a shining star adding much depth to her role as peacemaker). She
worked with him in his restaurant but he walked out on her and the restaurant without
an explanation. His relationship with his dying father isn’t much better and no
matter how hard Ray tries to get him to have something to eat, he will only
drink Ensure, the drink of choice sent home from the hospital.
Ray is still blistering from his father’s rejection of him as
a Korean chef (women’s work) who specializes in French cuisine. In scenes
between father and son, going back in time, we get a picture of the conflict
and bitterness between the two that includes some levity when Ray is preparing
a meal recommended by his uncle, that is supposed to be the ultimate recipe to
bridge the gap between father and son, life and death. Food being the
neutralizer he’s suggesting a turtle soup and we see Ray with a real honest to
goodness turtle. (Not to worry, its not used.)
All this happens when Ray’s uncle (animated and reflective Young
Kim) arrives from Korea, after a phone call from Cornelia who is able to
communicate with him in their native language. At this point translations and
lighting (Kristin Swift), are projected on a back wall filling us in on what
they are saying…tweaked somewhat to satisfy Ray)
 |
| Brian Kim and Young Kim |
After and having not been in touch with his brother for
years, he begins by ordering soup for his brother over objections from Ray,
insisting his father has not eaten a thing, but no mater, the soup complete
with turtle, is on the menu for Ray to cook.
In the meantime he fills Ray in on some lost memories especially
the last time the brothers were together and how their mother made soup (she
strained the soup until it glowed)…a soup of the rarest clarity, in order to convince her son to stay home.
Associate artistic director Todd Salovey along with playwright Julia Cho's lyrical play and a highly skilled cast bring a taste of Korea into the lives of those knowing
little or nothing of that culture. Heartbreak comes in watching the struggles that tears down families, watching the father /son relationship ebb and flow to
ultimately reach some peace of mind and move forward in universal themes that encompasses a whole new world for them; one of food and death and dying.
Brian Kim’s Ray is perfect as the disgruntled, ignored and
disappointed son who, no matter how hard he tries, is never good enough for his
distant father to embrace. When he finally decides to make soup for his father,
a corner is turned in his acceptance of his sense of family and the
inevitability of his father’s death.
And going back to the pastrami sandwich made with buttered
bread frying on the stove…the play opens with a prologue by a self described
foodie Diane (a beautifully nuanced Amanda Sitton dressed smartly in Elsa
Benzoni’s designs) and her husband who majored in philosophy and their travels
from San Francisco, to Yountville, to Portland, to El Bulli…well you get the
picture.
 |
| Young Kim, Audrey Park, Brian Kim |
They were hungry for something that was really good. Back
home her dad was dying of cancer but still able to put some bread on the frying
pan and make a pastrami sandwich that was “sitting there between us like a
contract, a letter. Addressed only to me”. And while the chemo killed his taste
buds, the memory of this scene in his kitchen never left her.
Suffice it to say, we don’t have to look very far or wide to
know that the universal panacea to bringing memories from the past are food
stories, and no matter the culture, death comes to all in one form or another.
No one has the perfect formula to cope. How we deal belongs
to no one culture, but those waiting with a loved one will always try to bridge
the gap by doing what is right in their gut.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Feb. 17th
Organization: San Diego Repertory Theatre
Phone: 619-544-1000
Production Type: Drama
Where: 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA 92101
Ticket Prices: Start at $25.00
Web: sdrep.org
Venue: Lyceum Space
Photo: Jim Carmody
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