Kitchen Witches

 September 22 - October 10, 2004

Written By Caroline Smith
Directed by David Nairn

If you can’t stand the laughter, then get out of the kitchen.

When Dolly and her nemesis, Isobel, get cast in the same cable cooking show, trouble starts a’brewing. It’s a foolproof recipe for chaos and comedy as the two arch-rivals each do their best to upstage the other. These "kitchen witches” are cooking up a storm!

Articles and Reviews

Can't Stand the Hilarity, Get Out of the Kitchen

The Kitchener Waterloo Record

Putting Waterloo's Karen K. Edissi, Ann Warn Pegg and Eric Woolfe together in a farce is like holding a match near an open gas jet --it's bound to explode.

And explode it does, with hilarious fun, at Theatre Orangeville, in the comedic play, The Kitchen Witches.

It's the final live television episode of Baking with Babcha and producer/director Stephen Biddle (Woolfe) is trying to keep his mother, Dolly (Pegg -- on air, she's Babcha with a fake accent) on track and out of the rum meant for the rum cake. When Stephen reads a letter from a viewer asking if Dolly knows Isobel Lomax (Edissi) who was the host of the other recently cancelled cooking show, Dolly slams Isobel with a lot of very nasty comments.

But Isobel is in the studio audience and she comes up onstage where the two of them verbally abuse each other. It turns out that the two of them both dated Larry Biddle in high school and though Dolly married him, he carried on an affair with Isobel until his death. The two, who were once best friends, now hate each other.

But the arguments on camera were such a hit with the sponsor that he wants the two ladies to do a show together and then the fur really starts to fly, each trying to outdo and embarrass the other as much as possible, to the great delight of the live audience in the theatre. The first episode of their new show ends with a huge surprise that will link Dolly, Isobel and Stephen together forever.

The following week's episode finds the Witches competing to make the most number of desserts in a given amount of time and a member of the studio/theatre audience is selected to try them out and judge the best ones.

The surprise guest of the evening was David Peterson, former premier of Ontario and he entered into the swing of things with relish and some funny comments that brought the house down.

But near the end of this episode, Dolly collapses and is taken to hospital where Stephen learns more about his mother and father and Isobel from Isobel herself; and realizes that she's not such a bad person after all.

What happens to Dolly and their show? You'll have to come to see it? I'm sworn to secrecy.

Edissi,who has done countless musicals, including three on Broadway, Pegg, who was the original Zsu Zsu in J.J. McColl's Menopositive! The Musical which took her to London, England and New York, and Woolfe, whose credits include playing Timon in Disney's The Lion King are comedic magic together.

Edissi and Pegg are masters at hurling insults, funny situations and larger-than-life characterizations and Woolfe has a warm, dry sense of humour that erupts when he's trying to keep Dolly and Isobel under control.

Funny script, sight gags galore and a silent cameraman (Andrew Russo) who gets it all on tape for posterity.

Directed by David Nairn, this is a very funny evening in the lovely Theatre Orangeville.

Unique Concept, Strong Acting Recipe for Success

The Orangeville Banner

I've never been a huge fan of reality-based tv -- even cooking shows -- and the notion of bringing a dose of reality to the theatre had never crossed my mind.

But I have to admit that the concept behind Theatre Orangeville's season premier, The Kitchen Witches, is a brilliant one.

Dolly and Isobel, two 50-somethings who are long time rivals, wind up cast in the same cooking show and are forced to work together despite their differences. An amusing premise that delivers the laughs, no doubt, but it's the execution that makes the play unique.

The whole production takes place on the set (which by the way is phenomenal) of a cable cooking show that is broadcast live before a "studio audience" (that's you), and the play shifts between on-air theatrics and off-air drama. Complete with a camera-man and producer -- whose public service announcements are cleverly written and delivered -- the set-up makes you forget at times that you're at the theatre.

The audience takes a leading role in the production, participating two-fold in this behind-the-scenes glimpse into reality tv. Applauding on cue for the made-up program, and off cue for the stellar performances, the production ventures into a new realm of interactive theatre.

Audiences will fall immediately in love with Dolly, played by the vivacious Ann Warn Pegg and her sensational menagerie of accents, costumes and facial expressions.

Karen K. Edissi, who plays the pretentious and smug Isobel, could have a more solid performance if she took the melodrama down a notch, but her delivery of swift and snarky remarks is a successful catalyst for the outrageous banter between the two characters.

Stephen, the show's producer and Dolly's son, is played by Eric Woolfe -- and what a treat it is to watch him perform. Switching sharply between his role as son -- anxious and frantic -- to his role as producer -- sometimes buoyant, other times wry -- he is the subtle centre point of the plot and the laughs.

The script, however, could be tightened up. The dialogue is sluggish at parts and the attempt at emotionally involving the audience near the end seems to serve no other purpose than postponing the laughs, But it's nothing a little fine-tuning couldn't repair.

Take a handful of animated actors, add a lively and responsive audience, let the plot thicken and you get a savory show that's sure to please even the fussiest palate. I certainly left Kitchen Witches with a good taste in my mouth.