5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche - at the Town and Gown
What exactly is quiche? An upmarket pie? A pizza with attitude or a flan manque? Can the word ‘quiche’ also stand for nudge nudge innuendo? In this play it most certainly can. Just as it’s hard to pin down the aforementioned savoury dish, so it is with ‘Five Lesbians Eat a Quiche’. Part adult panto, part ribald romp, part social commentary, part post nuclear apocalypse drama….It is the very essence of a riotous fringe show packed with energy, audience participation and good knockabout comedy which revels in its own rudeness. The script by Evan Linder and Andrew Hopgood sets the action in the strangest of worlds. We are in Bible Belt USA in 1956 sealed in some kind of nuclear bunker though in fact HQ of the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrud Stein. It is the annual breakfast for the society’s competition for the most original and tastiest quiche. All the 50s ladies here love, desire and drool about getting a taste of quiche. Even the thought about a morsel of quiche turns them to panting jelly. Wink wink say no more. When catastrophe strikes the truth dawns on the women that a post-apocalypse world will have to live without quiche. If all this sounds daft – it certainly is but this is a show which positive revels in its childlike daftness.
We are in the company of five of the society’s officers and we the audience are cast as members of the elite sisterhood. Setting aside the surreal and ballistically barmy script, the strength of the show lies in its performers who imbue the whole 70-minute show with high voltage Crazy Gang antics. Outstanding among a strong cast is Florence Lace-Evans as Vern, a tough-cookie Southern belle literally wearing the pants and a handy-woman’s tool belt. She is deadly serious about quiche (who isn’t?) and takes charge when disaster strikes. Vern is just the sort of quiche lover you need in an emergency. Perdita Lawton creates a stark contrast as the brittle but bossy society president, Lulie who has a secret to reveal; one which could save humanity. Eleanor Griffiths does a very good turn as the sugary Dale, a seemingly clichéd (or should that be quichéd) Stepford wife who has a shocking childhood trauma to confess. Eleanor Thomspson is convincing as the Cambridge grad Ginny, a deliberate (I think) contrast to the other four Dixieland dames. Newly arrived, she is unsure about the traditions of this quiche-centric sorority. Finally, Violetta Valverde provides a real sense of fun with the larger-than-life character of Wren forever posturing and posing (a 50s skill much vaunted by the women especially the camera-toting Dale).
With deft direction by Karl Steele, the production never takes itself too seriously and the potentially awkward dark moments amidst the frothy fun are handled with theatrical care. The show is going up to the Edinburgh Fringe where I predict it will do very well. Its contrasting ingredients of gender commentary, wild naughtiness and confident audience engagement, help overcome the sheer madness behind the potty plot. It is an audacious mix of Bake Off and Dr Strangelove which is held together, like the egg binding in their favourite dish, by the vivacity and talent of its performers. A thoroughly enjoyable evening of thought-provoking nonsense which proves that even the strangest mix of ingredients can create something to savour – just like a great quiche.
‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’ is at the Town and Gown Pub Theatre until 13 August
townandgown.co.uk
