The Kitchen Sink

The Kitchen Sink
By Tom Wells. Harbour Theatre. Directed by Grace Hitchin. Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park, WA. May 24 - Jun 2, 2019

The Kitchen Sink, presented by Harbour Theatre, centres around a likeable working class family in East Yorkshire. Billed as a comedy, it is perhaps more akin to a light ‘kitchen sink’ drama, with minimal plot, but some very interesting characters.

Set in the family kitchen, nicely created by Peter Kirkwood, Grace Hitchin and Brian Mahoney, the set includes lots of ring-of-truth props (Bronwyn Hammond, Jo Sterkenburg and Grace Hitchin), with the titular sink being almost a character of its own.

Jarrod Buttery, very much at home with the Yorkshire accent, works well as father Martin, a milkman whose livelihood is disappearing. Ann Speicher is convincing as dinner-lady mum Kath. Solonje Burns plays brown-belt Jujutsu student daughter Sophie, with energy and depth, with Alec Fuderer a good choice as aspiring artist son Billy. Liam Crevola is strong as Sophie’s boyfriend Pete.

While the actors work very hard and the characters are thoughtfully crafted, some of the audience were (audibly) struggling to understand some of the very accurate Yorkshire accents, and there were a few people who left at interval, it not being the pacey comedy they had expected.

The Kitchen Sink is a good choice for those who like slice-of-life drama, and lovers of a good Yorkshire tale.

Kimberley Shaw

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