Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Chaos reigns when the hyper-religious Kathryn attempts a cookery demonstration in the heart of America’s Bible belt. But while there are plenty of fun ingredients in Kate Owens’ physical comedy show, the final dish isn’t especially filling.

Her alter-ego is almost a drag parody of a Southern belle: caked-on make-up, voluminous blonde hair and too-tight shocking pink dress. She’s a real people-pleaser, powering on with her culinary presentation whatever mishaps befall her or whatever crucial implements she might be missing.

That she’s even doing the show comes from a sense of duty to her domineering late mother, whose full awfulness is revealed in a charming overhead-projected presentation of shadow images. Then Kathryn pays personal tribute in the form of a ribbon-waving dance – the first of many times Owens gets to flaunt her over-the-top physicality.

Kathryn is as devoted to the Church as she is to her mum, while she’s also desperate to find a husband and live a life of holy matrimony, like Jesus would have wanted. The pent-up sexual tension reveals itself as she makes intense eye contact with her intended beau in the audience while she’s essentially finger-banging a bowl of eggs. For the first time, some emotion breaks her otherwise implacable Stepford Wives demeanour. 

Owens couldn’t have selected a better target to woo tonight, picking fellow physical comedian Luke Rollason from the crowd, presumably by coincidence. Needless to say he was very game, as was another punter selected to be the local pastor, ensuring any possible discomfort was dissipated.  

Kathryn tries to block out the emptiness of a life following a dream that isn’t hers by getting sozzled, becoming a hot mess. And at one point she  sups a disgusting concoction as sacrament, of which curdled goat’s milk is the least disgusting ingredient. 

The increasingly bawdy behaviour is enjoyable, even if it lacks much deeper purpose than pointing out that following the Bible’s teachings to the letter is going to lead to miserable servitude for women.

Owens’s performance makes  the descent into unhinged bedlam seem almost credible until it most definitely is not and she can let her inner clown have the run of the place. That speaks to a professionalism that underpins the madness, including a set that recreates a home with cheap wood panels on the walls bedecked with home-made needlework praising Jesus.

If ultimately there’s not quite enough depth to the character, and a few pacing issues such as a concluding song that goes on far longer than it needs, Cooking With Kathryn is still a welcome serving of silliness.

Review date: 14 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Cowgate