When performer Paul Capsis was first approached in 2009 to write and act in a one-man play based on his maternal Maltese grandmother Angela, he was apprehensive. It had only been eight months after she had passed away and he felt it was all too soon. For his grandmother meant the world to him; she was the centre of his family, the rock. She – along with his Greek grandparents – shaped him and are the reason he is who he is today. But thankfully for us, he had second thoughts.
To date, Paul says that the play Angela’s Kitchen is “the most important work” he has done.
“It’s crucial for us to tell the stories, so we can understand who we are, and understand the journey, and our background,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
For Capsis, there was no question in his mind he wanted to tell what he believes is the quintessential Australian story – the story of migration, the story of torn emotions between the old and new country, the story of adjustments and the story of hardship and happiness and opportunities found in their adopted homeland. And in Angela’s Kitchen – this is the story of his maternal grandmother who migrated from Malta in 1948, with five kids in tow.
“I was always intrigued by this brave thing she did; she didn’t want to come here,” Paul begins, “she loved her home. She was very much a family person and worked very hard but after WWII there was no work left in Malta.”
Capsis’ parents divorced when he was very young, and although he saw his Greek family a lot, he remembers being raised mainly by his Maltese grandmother.
“I was like a sponge,” he says when he was young, “I absorbed everything, all the stories and was trying at the time to understand my grandmother and her life in another place, and in another time.”
He learnt Maltese so he could communicate with his grandmother, and would collect postcards and studied the suburbs and names of surrounding areas in Malta where his family originated. The connection for him with Malta started from a very young age.
But it wasn’t until he was 22, that by chance did he ever manage to travel to his grandmother’s country of birth. While touring the UK with a youth theatre group, he remembers seeing a travel agency outside his hotel window with the word Malta, in big letters. Tentatively he went into the agency just to enquire how much, and was taken aback by how cheap the three hour journey would be and booked there and then.
“It was really like going somewhere I knew,” explains Capsis.
“It wasn’t at all weird to me, nothing about it was strange. I just thought ‘I am home.'”
That’s what makes familial stories so powerful. Going to a different country, where in some instances you don’t know the language, the way people are, even the streets look different but you feel ‘at home’. It’s a strong powerful connection that all children and grandchildren feel to the country where their ancestors originate, a connection that can’t be broken.
“I don’t feel comfortable with the idea that we don’t tell the stories, pretend we are not here because we are and we have been and we’ve made a huge contribution and to ignore that is not on as far as I am concerned,” says Capsis of telling the quintessential Australian story.
“I am proud of where I come from, I am proud of who I am, I am proud of my family, and I want that acknowledgement. I don’t want them to be faded into history and let’s just go to the next group – let’s look at the new migrants. No! We are here and we’re not going anywhere.”
Since the play has been shown around Australia, Capsis has been overwhelmed by the response of the audience. His audience is a cross-section of Australia, from all different backgrounds, ages, genders and all of them have said the same thing – thank you for telling our story. He says he has been inundated with messages on the website, facebook and emails and people coming up to him after the show to tell their story, about their family, their grandmother, their challenges and their triumphs.
“That’s exactly the reason I wanted to do the play – because it’s important to acknowledge that we are present, we are here, this is our home, this is where we have come from, this is our collective story and it’s a good thing.
“It gives you a sense of something – not a sense of displacement.”
Angela’s Kitchen is an evocative piece of autobiographical theatre. A journey that begins at a kitchen table becomes a portrait, not just of a much loved matriarch, but of a whole generation. In this one-man play, Capsis plays himself, his grandmother, his grandfather and a plethora of characters that he flips in and out of.
But for him, reliving the tale of his family night after night has a two-sided effect.
“On one hand, it makes me very happy to hear my grandmother’s voice,” he starts.
“I am doing the play but I am not doing it, I am listening to her and I enjoy hearing her. I feel she’s with me; she’s always around me.
“But then I am also very sad too because I miss her, and there are parts in the show where it’s very difficult to talk about it and it’s a real challenge for me to get through and it doesn’t matter how many times I have done it now, if anything it gets worse.
“You never stop missing someone; someone who has been so important in your life you never get over that – ever!”
The play for the performer is both draining and yet uplifting but the way the audience connects with the piece is what gives him the most satisfaction. Using the ancient form of storytelling, it becomes representative of what usually happens in families – your family tell you the story of their life and you pass it on. And the kitchen, that’s the meeting place of the family. His grandmother was the centre of the family, the kitchen was the centre of the house, and when she died – the centre shattered.
The play and Capsis are getting the industry recognition they deserve. Capsis has been nominated for a Helpmann Award 2012 for ‘Best Male Actor in a Play’ and ‘Best New Australian Work (with Julian Meyrick)’ for Angela’s Kitchen.
But for him, what makes this play most special is being with his grandmother again night after night.
“[Doing the play] confirms to me the love my grandmother had for her family, she always put everyone first.
“She really gave unconditional love, she never judged, she accepted everyone for who they were, who they are and I just think she was very grateful that her family were around her.”
We can all take a leaf out of Angela’s book.
Angela’s Kitchen is on at the Malthouse Theatre from September 4 to September 23. For more information and tickets visit www.malthousetheatre.com.au