Returning after an entirely sold-out show last year, Gigglemug Comedy’s A Jaffa Cake Musical remounts the stage at Edinburgh Fringe for another tasty (VAT-less) snack of a run.
A few years ago, I was shooting a film about Mormon missionaries. The crew was small – the classic hodgepodge of freakishly talented, freshly graduated movie buffs – and all of them were current or former members of the Church of Latter Day Saints who had completed missions. This story was not only incredibly personal but also (if you know anything about the LDS) risky, for each of them. One night, after a long, exhausting day of shooting, someone joked bleakly, “I bet no one will watch this film but us.” Another crew member then shared a token of wisdom about storytelling that I’ve remembered to this day: “Maybe,” he admitted. “But oftentimes, the more niche the story is, the more universal it becomes.”
This is why everyone needs to go and see A Jaffa Cake Musical.
What is, on its surface, an esoteric legal battle about Value Added Tax and the Jaffa Cake company’s desire to wiggle out of paying taxes (by proving that their product is indeed a cake and not a biscuit), is turned into an astoundingly engaging 70-minute family-friendly romp.
Team Gigglemug – the production horse behind this family-friendly smash hit – is known for spinning “seriously silly” musicals about well-known brands. This is their second year bringing A Jaffa Cake Musical to the Edinburgh Fringe. Last year, they blazed through a sold-out run.
It’s clear – from every perfectly honed lyric, costume detail, and ergonomic set piece – that this show has flourished richly from years of repolishing and hard touring work. But with a cast this multi-talented and effortlessly brilliant, I’m convinced that they would be able to pick up any new musical today and make it the next Fringe hit tomorrow.
The smoothest of chocolate-coated performances from Sam Cochrane, Sabrina Messer, Harry Miller, Alex Prescot, Toby De Salis, Emily Kitchingham, and Katie Pritchard make a citrusy little snack out of the retelling of this wacky 1991 court case.
When the kid sitting next to me exploded into a fit of giggles during Katie Pritchard’s ridiculous number about paying taxes (“Tax Man”), I knew this was no ordinary tea-time nibble of a show. I wish I had been so engagingly exposed to the concept of paying taxes when I was that young.
In the final number, the characters leave with one last message that, prior to watching the show, I never would have believed I needed to hear: if a cake can be a biscuit, you can be anything. At a time when it’s difficult to believe we can do much, if anything, to get humanity back on track, Gigglemug Comedy reminds us that it is of vital importance to flip over the table and laugh at what we are taught to think is too serious or too niche to understand. In fact, that might be the first (and tastiest) place we should all look.
A Jaffa Cake Musical is on at the Edinburgh Fringe from the 1st to the 30th of July – 25th of August at The Pleasance Courtyard. Buy your tickets here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-jaffa-cake-musical?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21210545253&gbraid=0AAAAADsaKHcZIzzWN6OkvIZqdwA7LURPB&gclid=CjwKCAjwkbzEBhAVEiwA4V-yqinM7EinOSLTPBOIG3ZgQe1NcR2b1-YOXPjoOHrZ6GOfuoQTHfe5sxoCRLIQAvD_BwE