Cake Presented by Metro Arts and IMRSE

New Benner Theatre, Metro Arts

6th - 16th Nov 2024

 

Cake is a Deliciously Executed Saucy Satirical Sally

 

The 18th-century Austrian Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, famously lost her head over the phrase “let them eat cake” during the French Revolution, but did she really say it? Cake by Daniel Gough and Emma Churchland is a saucy satirical sally into the Royal Court of Louis XVI and Antoinette, where the audience are the courtiers, bearing witness to the scandalous shenanigans of the idle rich.

 

Emma Churchland is the founder and CEO of IMRSE Theatre Company, the Company in Residence at Metro Arts. Churchland and Artistic Director Dan Gough with Stage Director Kasey Turner, have updated the history of the Age of Enlightenment, with the raunchy sexual permissiveness and threats from the dreadful cancel culture of the 21st century, into a hilarious high-octane romp. 

 

Meg Ham is the vivacious vixen Therese, who acts as the host and spin doctor, breaking the fourth wall to involve the audience in the salacious slander of Antoinette. She is enigmatic and dangerous, dressed to kill in pink crinoline complete with bubblegum heels and a whopping wig. Ham wears many hats (as well as wigs), having been a producer on reality shows Survivor and Old People’s Home for Four-Year-Olds.

 

Samantha LeClaire plays a very different Marie Antoinette from the usual domineering character, allowing Therese to bully and cajole her for publicity and notoriety whilst relishing the excessive privileges of the Court. They form a synergetic pair with a hilarious repartee that develops as the character evolves amidst the mayhem of orgies and tea parties. 

 

Her poor, effeminate husband, King Louis XVI, played effectively by Calum Johnston, avoids and scapegoats Antoinette with the aid of Therese whilst the French Revolution rages in Paris. An ensemble of six generates the energy with pumping dance moves and lewd behaviour as Antoinette is encouraged to “stuff her muff with tea cake!”

 

The basic set is a simple tiered cake-like stand surrounded by the audience on three sides, with a background of heads on poles. It works well to encourage audience participation, including cheering "Huzzah" when the word is illuminated, as valued members of the Court. The audience is handed props and thoroughly involved in the play, with some clever asides and witty banter from Theresa.The costumes are fabulous with the whole cast in hues of bright pink.

 

Cake is adult only as it is lewd and rude with a little bit of nude. You will also think differently about drinking milk after a saucy scene with a cow’s udder. It is brilliantly written and executed (sorry) with a nod to the ridiculousness of Shakespeare, including having a play within a play, and I particularly enjoyed the many witticisms such as “shove it up your arse Les Miserables!”

 

Cake is hilarious, thoroughly entertaining, and a must-see. It offers witty commentary on the historical ‘facts’ surrounding the French Revolution; prudes need not attend!