Is it a cake? Or is it a biscuit?

A more polarising, controversial, and contentious question has never been uttered. Luckily, Gigglemug’s courtroom drama-turned comedy sketch will present you with for and against arguments for both in this delightfully refreshing, supremely witty ‘A Jaffa Cake Musical’.

Back for another run after winning hearts at last year’s Fringe, an eager audience take their seats to lively jazzy piano. We are undoubtedly in the right venue for this musical, indicated the orange bass guitar, orange drum, and orange tie. With an inventive set including moving balustrades, we are spectators in court, even interviewed as to our standing in the debate.

The musical follows the 1991 tribunal ruling that Jaffa Cakes were, once and for all, cakes. We hear from the all-guns-blazing Prosecution and the meek but dedicated Defence, competing for a favourable verdict from Lady Justice. However, the true pantomime villain of the piece is the Tax Man (Katie Pritchard), who creeps onto the stage to fierce red lighting, threatening to take your money with menacing cartoonish laughter.

The cast is nothing short of spectacular. The bromance between Defence and protagonist Kevin (Sam Cochrane) and McVitties defender Jake (Harry Miller) was comically wholesome and endearing, as with the power of friendship they fight to preserve low prices of a beloved teatime snack and help ‘jaffanatics’ everywhere. Sabrina Messer’s powerhouse voice matches the dedicated persuasion of the Prosecution, cartwheeling about the stage and channeling old-age physical comedy sketches.

The on-stage band of drums, keys and a bass not only play jazz-pop earworms but also give comedic commentaries. Keyboard player Alex Prescot doubles as Jady Justice, whose comically high-pitched operatic voice has hints of Monty Python. Unfairly catchy pop originals such as ‘What’s in a Name’ and ‘Chocolate-covered Nightmare’ (the result of a hallucination of jaffa-human hybrids) switch to raging hip-hop numbers paired with orange hoodies and backwards baseball caps.

Tongue-in-cheek, self-aware writing means that any biscuit or cake-related wordplay you can think of, trust it has been used. The trivial subject matter is exaggerated to the point of giddy absurdity – we are part ways after the oddly uplifting message that if, ‘a cake can be a biscuit, you can be anything.’

‘A Jaffa Cake Musical‘ is at Pleasance Courtyard – Forth until Mon 25 Aug 2025 at 14:00