Comedian Kura Forrester and chef Peter Gordon are about to create kitchen chaos – for a good cause. Photo / Michael Craig
Comedian Kura Forrester is in the house! Or is it the kitchen? And why is chef Peter Gordon about to get flamed?
Kura Forrester admits she was pretty clueless when she turned up at chef Peter Gordon’s London restaurant, The Providores, looking for a job.
As a budding young actor, she’d done her fair share of hospitality work in cafes back home before heading off on her OE, but quickly realised fine dining was way out of her league.
“I had to do that classic Kiwi thing of blagging my way in,” says Forrester, who went on to win a Billy T Award for best emerging comedian in 2019 and had a long-running role as the eccentric socialite Desdemona Schmidt on Shortland Street.
“Peter would write a new menu every night, and I was learning words I’d never heard before. ‘What is tapioca? I’ve got no idea.’ So it was a big learning curve for me.”
Now, Forrester has a chance to turn the tables when she and Gordon face off at A Massive Fundraising Dinner next month for one of Aotearoa’s longest-running theatre companies.
A grassroots initiative established in 1991, Massive Theatre Company runs free workshops for young people and professional development for emerging and professional actors, writers and directors, alongside its stage shows.
However, along with the rest of the creative arts sector, it’s been hard hit by funding cuts and forced to trim back the number of works being staged.
On October 11, the company’s Grey Lynn wharenui is being transformed for a “whānau-style” three-course banquet to help boost its coffers. Gordon, a longtime friend of founder Samantha Scott, is designing the menu.
“Peter will be cooking and I’ll be the host, so hopefully there’ll be some laughs,” says Forrester, who describes it as a fancy dinner party – without the fanciness.
“We have this running gag that I really want to try and help him cook, but instead of ‘helping’, I’m just gonna get in the way. I think there’ll be a lot of me going ‘Come on, chef!’ and he’ll be like, ‘Get the hell out of my kitchen.’”
Between whetting her knives for the big event, Forrester talked to the Herald about hobnobbing with London’s rich and famous, and what it means to be one of the “Massives”.
“Being in hospo is a great way for an actor to sharpen their skills. At The Providores, it was all about waiting on very famous people and trying to remain nonchalant. I was terrible at that. When Alec Baldwin came in, I almost couldn’t speak.
“Kate Hudson was a regular and Russell Brand came in once – obviously, he’s a bit of a dick now. I waited on the singer Dido for an entire night and had no idea it was her. But meeting [Kiwi actor] Martin Henderson for the first time was cool. I was like ‘Chur, bro. Kia ora!’
“Some nights, I’d work the door as well, which was quite fast-paced and high-pressure. People trying it on to get a table would say, ‘We know Peter Gordon’. And I’d go, ‘Yeah, right. Don’t we all.’
“Often there’d be scallops on the menu and I found it really annoying that British people would always leave the orange part of the scallop behind on their plate. I was like, you idiots. It’s the best bit!
“Of course, Peter is taken very seriously as a chef, as he should be. But I really like being silly with him. He’s the most wonderfully generous person and we always have a good laugh.
“Many moons ago, I studied acting at Unitech. I went to see some of Massive Theatre Company’s shows and just fell in love with their way of making theatre.
“I joined the company in 2008 and never left. That’s what happens to a lot of us Massives, as we call ourselves. As an actor, I feel like I’m my most passionate artist self when I’m working with them.
“The company has been going for almost 35 years now, so its legacy is long and rich. There’s a very strong kaupapa and a real sense of belonging.
“What sets us apart, as a devised theatre company, is that we’re always putting on original work, using our artists as the starting point for our stories.
“My first ever professional show [in 2008] was Whero’s New Net by Albert Belz. Since then, I’ve been a teacher, a stage manager, a director, and I’m currently on the board of trustees. It’s an extremely special place."
Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior lifestyle writer with a special interest in social issues and the arts.