Marsha wants to be Martha Stewart, from whom she draws “courage, hope and ambition.” She also draws a healthy dose of comedic creepiness and obsession, as she will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve her dream of becoming an on-screen baking queen as one-half of the sister team known as the “Modern Day Marthas.” It’s not a good thing.

Chocolate Cake
Toasted Theatre Company – Ottawa, ON, Canada
7 DATES THROUGH MAY 29, 2016
Venue: Purple
Length: 30 Min
Price: $11
Rating: 13 & Up – Adult Language
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In Chocolate Cake, we’re treated to Marsha and her sister Marty hosting a public-access program that goes badly wrong. Though their sibling spats are rather tedious and clumsy, Lauren Cauchy as Marsha and Amanda Logan as Marty do elicit laughs when they switch to slapstick. More physicality and a much faster, almost screwball-comedy, pace certainly would have helped this production too, although, at just 30 minutes (instead of the advertised 60), Chocolate Cake is already more of a cupcake than a full-blown gâteau.

Despite its brevity and lack of finesse, Cake is hard to hate, especially because the performers bring sweetness to their recipe, in addition to sexiness in the form of a joke involving Marty’s own rather ample “cupcakes.” In addition, a brilliant, twisty layer of thematic dark chocolate at the end almost cancels out the show’s shortcomings. Nevertheless, Cake still seems a bit half-baked.