Undercurrents of "How To Use A Knife" cut deep

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

“In food, in genocide, in life – life cuts you,” say Sidonie Garrett, the director of Kansas City Unicorn Theatre’s production of How To Use a Knife. The plot and the undercurrents of the play run deep, says Garrett.

The play is based in a busy restaurant kitchen in New York City, where a disparate group of characters struggles with life, their pasts and their secrets. Playwright Will Snider’s How To Use A Knifebursts with grinding suspense, energy and surprise.

Underneath the hustle and bustle of the restaurant kitchen, Garrett says the play reveals, “the American experience in general, that our experience is not the world experience. We are not completely informed about these Third World situations.”

On the surface, Chef George is trying to stay sober. In between yelling at a pair of trash-talking line cooks and a pot-smoking busboy, he befriends Steve, an East African immigrant who seems to be a humble yet dignified dishwasher. But Steve played a shocking role in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide, and immigration authorities are on his trail.

Garrett shares a revealing quote from Steve, “America had 9/11 with 3,000 people killed; Rwanda had one million people killed and you know nothing about it.” Steve is one of the two major characters in the play.

The other is Chef George, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. The owner and manager of the restaurant has known George for a long time, and has given him a second chance. Chef George’s character, according to Garrett, deals with the “rampant addiction in our country, how we self-medicate.”

She adds that it is a gripping play, similar to the work of playwright David Mamet, whose work features bursts of fast moving, profane dialog. Garrett says, “it tends to be Mamet-like in the action, it goes pop, pop, pop. They are getting things out the door while they are having conversations. It’s got a lot going for it. [A kitchen restaurant] is an interesting place to put discussions of this nature.”

“I like the drive of it overall, I certainly appreciate where big things are revealed,” says Garrett. “The discovery of who people are, what are they trying to hide. There is a scene where both Steve and George are revealed. It’s a great scene of discovery and how they deal with each other.”

She cuts to the chase, citing the title. “Chef likens if you can use a knife well, you’ve got it in hand. “How To Use A Knife is a metaphor. “It relates to people killing people hand to hand, the genocide in Rwanda. It is referenced in the play and reflected in more than one way in the context of the play.

“In food, in genocide, in life – life cuts you.”

How To Use A Knife opens January 25 and runs through February 19 at the Kansas City Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main Street, Kansas City, MO. Tickets are $30, and are available online at www.unicorntheatre.org or by phone at (816) 531-7529 x 10. Unicorn Theatre productions are suitable for ages 15 and up.

Copyright 2017 The Gayly – January 27, 2017 @ 4:05 p.m.