The great British Bake Off

In visiting this production - a British amateur Premiere up here in NODA North – I felt I were at a disadvantage given I have never ever watched a baking/cooking TV show in my life and can burn water.

Whilst I did not know the characters (judges and presenters) seemingly adored by thousands it seemed as though I was distinctly in the minority. However, as the production progressed it was clear that my ignorance was not a great hindrance as the story was fundamentally about the contestants, their backstories, their aspirations, and their hopes for the future.

Extrovert presenter ’Jim’ (Ian Mordue) with his cringeworthy puns and catchphrases was kept in check by fellow presenter ‘Kim’ (Lisa Hopper). The pair worked well together creating the ‘on screen’ ambiance as well as ‘off screen.’

Playing the judges were-- Anne Taylor and Gareth Lilley as ‘Pam Lee’ and ‘Phil Hollinghurst’ respectively – I am told they really looked every inch of their TV counterparts, and their characters personalities certainly was what I would expect of a judge with their encouraging and sometimes disparaging retorts. It was during Anne and Gareth’s song together “I’d never be Me without You” that we had an unplanned pause to the production when the theatre fire alarm went off – the production resumed at the same point approx. twenty minutes later after a sweep of the building and a visit from the Fire Service complete with flashing blue lights.

The applause from the appreciative audience told how much they appreciated the professionalism of the cast getting straight back into it after an incident that could have ‘thrown’ lesser actors.

This production was not about fire alarms and presenters and judges and TV programmes but about the contestants and their experiences and life stories.

Nick Goddard as ‘Dezza’ an activist and vegan determined to save the world by any means; Lauren Garforth as ‘Francesca’, Italian and with a back story of infertility in trying for a child; Freya Lloyd as ‘Izzy’ – TV obsessed and determined to win at any cost by fair means or foul; Laurance Scott as ‘Russell’ – the impeccably dressed self-confessed ‘technician’ when it came to food, openly gay and proud – he almost was like the ‘father’ to the rest of the contestants; Georgos Marnellos as ‘Hassan’, the youngster of the group – proud of his Syrian background but still frightened to promote it after a decade living in London; Andrea Riley as ‘Babs’ a Londoner with a see it/get it attitude to life but a salt of the Earth character.

Finally, Andrew Howe as ‘Ben’ – a widower with a nine-year-old daughter ‘Lily’ (played by Lucy Pascoe – a role she shared with Harriett Hutton) who joined the show to honour his dead wife’s memory for his daughter. ‘Ben’ gradually formed an attachment to ‘Gemma’ the ‘reserve contestant’ brought in at the last minute. ‘Gemma’ from Blackpool with low self-esteem was played by Lindsay Kellegher. The audience was in love with the burgeoning relationship between ‘Ben’ and ‘Gemma’ and the added complication of whether ‘Lily’ would accept this woman who had dared to suggest to her dad tweaking her dead mum’s recipes.

All the characters had believable back stories and obviously researched their characters well. The ‘chorus’ was supplied by ‘TV crew’ comprising Rachel Carr, Charlotte Guest, Erin Kellegher, Lois Kellegher and Rubee Mellon.

This was after all a musical and the musical numbers were a mixture of humorous, plaintive, and downright catchy all supplied by John Hudson and his orchestra. All musical numbers were supplied by a cast more than capable of handling the rhythms  - my favourite being the song between father and daughter ‘My Dad’ sung by Andrew and Lucy and ‘Slap it like that’ as ‘Phil’ told the contestants how to handle their pastry dough for their strudel.

Being a British amateur Premiere the society had to create all props from new and they were absolutely fantastic from ovens, through to ‘electric mixers’ to giant scones with all details thought of down to the differences between Devonian and Cornish varieties…

The audience certainly loved ‘Bake Off.’

So, who won the contest – well as was said by ‘Gemma’ – you will just have to watch it to see…

 

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