Here's a short synopsis of the play:
A bizarre and witty account of marital breakdown
Kenneth is a man with a weakness for fatty foods and skinny women. His mid-life crisis forces him to favor the latter, so he trades in Hilary - his stoic wife of twenty years - for the younger, prettier, slimmer (and more culinary-challenged) Laura. However, he quickly regrets his rash decision and finds himself torn between the delights of Laura's bedroom and Hilary's kitchen. The three eventually meet for a 'let's all be grown-ups' meal round at Hilary's, where Kenneth discovers he can no longer have his cake and eat it, as the women regain control... This play sounds bizarre and is, but it also says a lot about human weakness, loyalty, and the consequences of selfishness. It's also extremely funny, with such classic lines as "go and have deep throat sex and leave me here in my sparkling kitchen!"
and a review:
On entering the theatre we were confronted with a setting which in it's Spartan simplicity suggested we were about to witness a Grecian Tragedy, which I suppose in a way we were.
Kenneth and Hilary were married for nineteen years. Nineteen years in which Hilary in her spick and span kitchen has prepared, cooked and served gargantuan meals for Kenneth who, to put it mildly, has a healthy appetite.
Then Kenneth meets Laura who seems to represent all the things he thinks he has been missing. They embark on an affair, which quickly descends into a vortex of lies and deceit. Laura is young, sexy and finds Kenneth sexy. There are however a couple of problems – Laura is a bit of a slut and she is a hopeless cook. So Kenneth starts slipping back to Hilary for a little culinary consolation.
We first meet the three participants at Hilary's house to which she has invited Kenneth and Laura (now three years married) for an anniversary dinner. A dinner which Hilary with murderous and vengeful thoughts has prepared and is in the process of cooking very carefully indeed.
Ray Newton & Loretta Freeman
So a play about appetites or more correctly a play about hungry people. From the ageing Teddy Boy glutton Kenneth's constant cry of "I'm STARVING!!" through Hilary's loving, almost lascivious preparation of food and hunger for revenge to Laura who is on a diet anyway and so presumably always hungry not least for (as she elegantly phrases it) nookie.
There is pain and hurt here and sympathy is not confined to "The Wronged Wife".
As someone once said, "Every villain has his point of view" so Kenneth and Laura reveal during the progress of the play their own particular needs.
The play, delivered in a series of flashbacks stemming from the anniversary dinner at the beginning to the climactic last scene when Hilary serves the first course. "Mmmmm, fish for starters, fabulous! Fabulous!!!" Grunts Kenneth and proceeds to wolf not only his own portion but Laura's as well and inevitably starts to choke.
The play then veers into very black farce as the two budding Borgias from suburbia coolly watch as Kenneth writhes his last over the table and then calmly over a drink or two discuss the disposing of the body. Of course, HH
Hilary the cook has the answer! "Turn on the oven, 400 degrees F." she suggests, "We'll have to eat him, flush him down the loo".