Quirk: Theatre and Film presents the Ministry of Biscuits
(Gilded Balloon)

Reviewed by The High Priestess

This is Gilbert and Sullivan meets early 50's films. The music is a bit loud so you can't always hear the singing, but the basic premise is this - yong biscuit designer at the Ministry designs a "fancy" biscuit to try to win the love of French Francoise, and the Ministry clamp down on this hedonistic aberration that he has created. A cast of singing Ministry men, comical BBC announcers and dancing pink wafers take us to the (of course) happy ending.

Joanna Neary's Francoise has that wobbly vibrato so evocative of 50's films, except she appears to be losing her voice a little on the high notes. She has been doing this for over two weeks though. I've seen her do a solo show in Brighton and know that she can sing, so it must be a cough I think.

An enjoyable enough romp - particularly the song and dance routine with our hero strapped into a chair being wheeled about.