5 LESBIANS EATING QUICHE

 

5 Lesbians Eating Quiche by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood.

Directed by Jarrad West. Assistant Director · Jo Zaharias Lighting & Sound Design · Nikki Fitzgerald. Assistant LX Design · Rhiley Winnett. Set Design · Jarrad West. Set Construction · Matthew Ovenell. Costume Design · Fiona Leach. Backstage Managers · Marion West & Alice Ferguson. Marketing Design · Louiza Blomfield. Marketing & Publicity · Karina Hudson. Production Photography · Janelle McMenamin. Cast: Sian Harrington, Crystal Mahon, Steph Roberts, Ylaria Rogers and Meaghan Stewart. Act Hub. Causeway Hall. 14 Spinifex Street Kingston July 17 – August 1. 2026. Bookings: ACTHUB.COM.AU

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

I am not a Lesbian and I don’t eat quiche for dietary reasons, so why should I have found this so riotously funny that it even had me laughing, and if not uproariously at least with a permanent grin on my face that not even Dale’s tragic monologue could not remove.

Sian Harrington as Ginny.
Meaghan Stewrt as Vern

So how did it happen that this quirky, queer work by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood worked so successfully for this straight man with no propensity for a bacon free quiche. Well it’s simply because of director Jarrad West’s pacy, snappy and clever business and his cast’s over the top shenanigans carried out by the finest ensemble of comic actors that one is likely to find in Canberra. Steph Roberts as Wren Robin – Events Coordinator  is the ideal organizer of the Susan B Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein annual quiche breakfast. Poor Ginny Cadbury - Secretary (Sian Harrington) is the fazed member of the committee. With her Scottish accent she is no true blue patriot of the star spangled South and therefore an easy butt for an uppity Lulie’s meanness. Ylaria Rogers as Dale Prist -Historian is your picture postcard poser, all bounce and bubble with a sad secret to reveal when the time comes. Vern Schultz – Buildings and Grounds Manager - (Meaghan Stewart) is your butch maintenance member prone to a tantrum that can bring the house down, and then there is Lulie Stanwyk - President (Crystal Mahon), the grand dame of the group with a devotion to chickens and the glorious egg. She too has a secret to throw the hens among the cats. Together they are the guardians of the sacred widows’ ritual of glorification of the egg and I don’t mean the chicken’s.

Crystal Mahon as Lulie. Meaghan Stewart as Vern

With an ensemble so deliciously madcap and with a taste for farcical mayhem, 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche is no buffet of intellectual gourmandizing, but it’s worth developing a taste for a healthy diet of entertainment. The flyer promises wild audience interaction, which harbours the threat of audience participation. At the door we are asked to choose a name to stick to our clothing. Is this a foreboding of having to become involved? Rest assured, you are put in the role of an assembled Society member while the committee sets about to judge the winning quiche. Apart from one plant who is targeted as the hapless Marjorie and butt of the committee’s verbal abuse or incriminating glances, you will only be urged to applaud, cheer or sing along. It’s all good fun which only becomes more chaotic when an atomic explosion hits the town and everyone is trapped in the dining hall bunker of the community hall, gaily festooned with 4^th July decoration. Only in America. An unlikely event? Perhaps but a willing suspension of disbelief will keep you laughing at Linder and Hobgood’s satirical swipe at silly societies that take themselves too seriously.

Ylaria Rogers as Dale

So for a treat to chase away the winter chill, 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche at ACT HUB serves up a delicious taste of top-notch comic performances in this eggcellent production.