I went along to Barons Court Theatre last night with my sister to watch The Ministry of Biscuits. This small theatre of only 57 cinema-style seats located in the basement of The Curtains Up pub in West London, is transformed into an Orwellian style London set in 1948, where biscuits are policed and fancy biscuits are strictly prohibited.
Writers Brian Mitchell and Philip Reeve used only four actors (including Brian Mitchell playing the role of the Minister of biscuits) in this small intimate space (that my sister described as cave-like), to deliver this extremely enjoyable and hilarious comedy.
The Ministry has been set up to “control biscuits, and to control the idea of biscuits.” The contraband and decadent Jaffa cakes and jammy dodgers could be considered your class As.
Murray Simon delivers a fantastic portrayal of the strait-laced yet earnest Cedric Hobson, a junior biscuit designer who falls in love with Francoise Courvoissier (Amy Sutton). He attempts to woo her by inventing “the triple chocolate ginger nut cream surprise”. This biscuit will “shake confectionery to its very foundations”, causing outrage in the Ministry for Biscuits.
Amy Sutton’s beautiful singing voice is impressively memorable. So too is her skillful portrayal of the different characters she plays from her perfect French accent in the seductive Mademoiselle Francoise to her more conservative Miss Randal to her militant and fierce Dr. Wischwinge.
I enjoyed all the characters including David Mounfield as the hilarious ‘BBBC’ female radio presenter. In the
This almost perfectly executed production of the much loved musical comedy is proof that you don’t need the big lights of the Westend to give people a thoroughly enjoyable old worldly and visceral experience. This timeless story that Brian Mitchell and Phillip Reeve penned in 1997-8 is even more
The Ministry of Biscuits runs at Barons Court Theatre from Tuesday, 29th January to Sunday, 10th February 2019. I recommend you go see it.
