F-bombs away: James Louis Wagner (r) as the raging chef Harry lectures restaurant owner Mike (Matt Monaco) about why he won’t cook scallops. Or something. Jason Grow photography
You hate the characters in Theresa Rebeck’s “Seared” so much, you end up respecting them.
Respecting at least the craft that went into making such irritable, self-absorbed combatants—people you wouldn’t spend more than five minutes with in real life.
Rebeck’s “rage in the kitchen” play, the latest production in the Gloucester Stage Company’s outdoor season at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport, boils with anger.
Set in a small restaurant, performed entirely in the kitchen, hothead chef Harry (played by James Louis Wagner) and equally combustible owner Mike (Matt Monaco) argue about everything—especially scallops, a signature dish that Harry refuses to cook ever again, even after a rave review. He’s an artist, you see, and he’s just not feeling it anymore.
So they fight. Loudly. Constantly. By intermission in “Seared” there have been so many fights— over the scallops, about a consultant, sharing tips, wild salmon, Mike’s money, more tables, another critic, the menus, the scallops again—all of them über-macho, finger-in-the-chest crescendos of f-blasts.
Emily Bosco plays the PR consultant (Emily) who angles in to make the restaurant grow, trying to capitalize on the fame of the artiste-chef’s scallops. Jordan Pearson plays a waiter, dodging f-bombs both from his boss and the unstable kitchen genius.
Each scene played out with tiring similarity: a simple subject got introduced, and two or more characters quickly found a way to shout at each other about it.
Director Victoria Gruenberg strove to introduce some pace to the overheated action, but these capable actors kept getting supercharged over gnocchi.
They were all big-man fights.
Testosterone fights. Fights that featured the f-bomb in all its muscular excess—verb, noun, adjective, exclamation, interjection. We’re talking Mamet-level quantity of f-words.
Harry’s an angry boy, and a self-defined master of the saucepan. His pose as a misunderstood artist wears thin, and quickly: at one point Emily says “Maybe he’s just an asshole who can cook,” as the entire audience nods in assent.
Hate them as you must, you have to credit Rebeck for inventing these characters. It just takes time to appreciate them. It doesn’t happen in real-time—a kind of battered weariness sets in after the fifth or sixth full-throttle confrontation.
But these characters are alive, and each of their disputational methods were vividly realized by these actors. Wagner was typecast as the unapproachable Harry, frustrated with everything and everyone. Monaco wore Mike’s “I can’t believe he’s doing this to me” face so effectively you had to turn away.
Bosco showed savvy with her own role as the optimistic, efficiently programmed publicist, trying to end every conversation with assenting smiles—always failing. Bosco worked hard to save this character, who also joined in the f-word parade. The improbable affair she swings with the chef did nothing for the plot; it was just another thing to argue about.
Pearson’s waiter acted with singular maturity. His transformation in the kitchen ultimately tries to heal the shattered relationships—far too late for the audience to care.
The single set, an industrial kitchen, was smartly used, with sharp blocking and natural movement throughout. Costumes were appropriate kitchen-wear, with Emily’s dressed-for-success outfits the only visual diversion. The soundtrack was ’70s dude-rock.
“Seared” battles its way to a flimsy resolution—Harry burns one too many bridges, like a bully getting a comeuppance—but far too late, after far too many pointless skirmishes.
The premise of the arguments never seemed sufficient for the conflicts that ensued. And these arguments never stop, never find any release from tension. A few bro-hug scenes, or an “I love you too man,” would have helped along the way. But the audience gets steamrolled, the same way children do when their own parents fight constantly.
Can’t stand the heat? Yeah, me either.
The Gloucester Stage Company presents Theresa Rebeck’s “Seared” through Aug. 22 on the outdoor stage at Windhover Performing Arts Center, 257R Granite St., Rockport. Tickets ($15–$54) are available at gloucesterstage.com or by calling 978 281-4433.