Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey Bake a Cake (Old Fitz Late) ★★★★★

Created & Performed by Alfred Kouris & Harry Stacey. World Premiere. Presented by Irregular Programming. The Old Fitz. 2-7 Jun 2026.

What’s with the culinary-themed theatre at the moment? Broadway has the transfer of London’s Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) and we’re about to get the dessert pie-themed Waitress in Sydney – but if you want bang for baked buck, there is only one late night stop to sate your theatrical munchies and it’s the Old Fitz.

Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey Bake a Cake does exactly what it says on the tin – over the course of roughly 70 minutes, Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey bake and ice a three-layered cake from scratch. It’s part morning TV segment, cooking reality TV competition, lip-sync for your life, computer game, surreal variety show, and a love story, that ends with, you guessed it, a cake to share with the audience.

I have no shame in saying it – I was more invested in both the friendship of Alfred and Harry, and in the fate of the cake, than I have been in most plays I’ve seen recently. Something about this insane show drove me to 80s-rom-com-punch-the-air joy. Strangely this is a show filled with an unbridled sense of hope (and the ghost of a fictional chef).

As Alfred and Harry vamp to pass the time as the cake bakes in the on-set oven (with a countdown ticking above their heads) things inevitably go off the rails – and these two young men keep things loose and unpredictable. Along the way we get a group singalong, some choreography, interactive mobile games and emotional drama. It’s hard to tell where the scripted moments end and the ad-libs begin, and that fluidity makes this genuinely “lean in” theatre. There may not be much plot, but there is a Mixmaster full of jeopardy.

For my day job, I have worked on reality TV cooking shows (new season of MKR coming soon), and this is by no means the most chaotic cook I’ve watched unfold live, but it is easily the most entertaining. As they parody cooking shows and lip-sync to clips of famous TV chefs I was left in stitches. I demand a longer season, I demand spin-offs — Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey Make a Sunday Roast, Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey Make a Pavlova…

I’m rushing this review out (I left the theatre just over an hour ago) as this initial run at The Old Fitz has a painfully short shelf life so you’ll need to be quick, but if we’re lucky this isn’t the last we’ll see of Alfred Kouris and Harry Stacey. I say this as both a theatre reviewer and as a producer of reality TV cooking shows – this is a must see.