How to Make a Mess review — Nigella musical lacks a vital ingredient

A musical about Nigella Lawson seems a natural theatrical subject, and Emily Rose Simons’s two-hander sets a clear emotional task. Anna’s estranged mother has just died and she is ignoring calls from her dad, who left when Anna was a child. As she opens his favourite cookbook, Nigella’s How to Eat, its exuberant author emerges from a spangly kitchen cupboard to help Anna process her grief, reconnect with her father and better care for herself — all by learning to cook.

This Nigella can even conjure thunderstorms and cancel trains. Tanya Truman resists all-out caricature, while Natasha Karp offers an entertainingly wry counterpoint: “What are you doing to my fridge?” she deadpans as Nigella seductively hugs its door and describes a midnight snack like an orgy.

Yet Nigella remains a nebulous, plummy instructor more than a human companion, and although there are glimmers in the moving song Nothing Like My Mother, the relationship leaves Anna’s transformation feeling implausible or inaccessible.

nigella lawson, nigella musical, howtoeat, emily simons, anna, grief, tanya truman, natasha karp, cookbook, two-hander