Rep brings alive 40 years of Cuba's turbulent history

The outside world of Cuba is never seen, and only briefly heard from, in Eduardo Machado's insightful drama "The Cook." But that country's turbulent change is a constant influence within the walls of the play's single, kitchen setting in Seattle Repertory Theater's expert staging of Machado's three-act play. Love, security, and (most of all) good food are always close at hand — but inevitable change cannot be held at bay. Sooner or later, the outside world must be acknowledged.

The play's inside world is the large, inviting kitchen of a mansion in the El Vedado district of Havana, first seen on New Year's Eve 1958, just as the Batista regime is collapsing under Castro's revolution. The young, vibrant cook Gladys (Zabryna Guevara) has been working for her wealthy Cuban employers since the age of 13, forging a bond of loyalty that will be tested when Adria (Yetta Gottesman), the pregnant mistress of the mansion, announces her intention to flee the country until the revolution's over; by her estimate, she'll be back in a month or so.

Gladys promises to take loving care of the home until Adria and her husband can safely return, and 40 years later, she's still waiting. As passionate about her time-honored recipes as her husband Carlos (Al Espinosa) is about Castro's rise to power, Gladys initially seems too naively devoted to an ideal that exists primarily in her head; her kitchen is a limbo where illusions can be tenuously maintained. In truth, Adria will only return decades later, in the look-alike form of her adult daughter Lourdes (also played by Gottesman). She's the Cuban-American child of bitter anti-Castro émigrés, and it's not the happy reunion that Gladys was expecting.

Leaping from 1958 to 1972 and finally to 1997, the three acts of "The Cook" allow Cuban-born Machado (who came to America in 1961, at the age of 8) to reflect upon the cultural and political rifts between those who fled Cuba and those, like Gladys and Carlos, who had no choice but to stay behind. As each act progresses, the forces that affect the couple's marriage run parallel to the turbulent world outside.

Staged on a large, warmly inviting kitchen set (by Mikiko Suzuki McAdams) that subtly ages with each rise of the curtain, the Rep's near-flawless production has a major advantage at its core: Guevara originated the role of Gladys in New York in 2003, and she commands the stage with the comfort of familiarity, constantly cooking in a sanctuary she can rightly call her own. As the third-act proprietor of an acclaimed paladar (home-based restaurant), Gladys is a force of faith and kindness, but she's also in a cocoon that will inevitably be shattered, and Guevara handles her awakening with homespun wisdom and effortless appeal.

Director Juliette Carrillo guides the rest of the cast with an equally steady hand; the play flows with a natural pace that favors Machado's abundant humanism and humor. Like Gottesman, Jessica Pimentel handles a dual role (servant Elena and Carlos' daughter Rosa) with crowd-pleasing aplomb (several of her line deliveries are priceless), and both Pimentel and Gottesman excel in giving each role a distinct and meaningful identity.

Likewise, Espinosa and A.K. Murtadha (as Gladys's gay cousin Julio) make strong impressions that reverberate throughout the performance.

Machado knows that you can't go home again, and his incendiary third act plays like a heartbreaking yet hopeful reflection upon 40 years of Cuban history. "The Cook" expresses that history through the dynamics that unite or separate its characters, and The Rep's lively staging ensures that all of their perspectives are compassionately explored. Playwright Machado was present at Wednesday's opening night performance, and this production earned his appreciative applause.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net