Biscuit & Coffee

The quest for the perfect coffee comes to The Coromandel!

Written by Phil Ormsby
Performed by Alex Ellis

Biscuit & Coffee, described by Lynn Freeman of the Capital Times as ‘Addictive Theatre’ is New Zealand’s comic testament to the importance of really good coffee.

Alex Ellis and Phil Ormsby, founders of New Zealand’s Flaxworks theatre company and the creators of Murder by Chocolate and Carol & Nev are back with their original production Biscuit & Coffee.

Flaxworks, who have spent much of 2007 and 2008 performing sell out shows around New Zealand and more recently garnering excellent reviews and delighting audiences at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2009 with Murder by Chocolate, and who premiered their new show Carol & Nev in June are excited to return to the start of it all and perform Biscuit & Coffee again especially as part of Coromandel’s Pohutukawa Festival.

“We feel very lucky to be part of the Pohutukawa Festival. While we have performed our shows in most towns throughout the country we have never actually performed in The Coromandel before” says Alex “like most kiwis, it just wouldn’t be summer without a holiday in the Coromandel, so it’s great to be able to help celebrate the Pohutukawa trees and the onset of summer with Biscuit & Coffee”.

Dark and murky as a fresh brewed turkish, light and frothy as a latte, Biscuit & Coffee is the tale of ‘Biscuit’ and her dysfunctional and obsessive, family, friends and colleagues as they search for the perfect coffee, the so-called, ‘elixir of life’. It’s a tale of mythic proportions. The hilarious, larger than life show about an epic quest for the perfect cup of java. The tall tale to end all tales, the hunt for the holy grail of coffee!

The unlikely named ‘Biscuit’ is an accountancy prodigy brought to the brink of ruin in a comedy of epic proportions that weaves coffee conspiracy with fact, fiction and the very fabric of time and space.

In a solo show, described by John Smythe of Theatreview as ‘a tour-de-force that showcases her undoubted skills’ Alex Ellis tells the madcap tale of potions and prophecies through the eyes of six very different characters while downing endless espressos. The more coffee that goes down the faster and more manic the story and story telling becomes. Meet mad Uncle Dan, disapproving Gran and the increasingly plastic Loretta. Marvel at the supernatural coffee making skills of Jude, and learn from obsessive Mr Kite the secrets of the Brotherhood of the Bean.

Audiences and critics have been captivated by the deceptively simple premise and Alex’s performance as she switches personalities at the drop of a coffee bean and effortlessly weaves her way through the increasingly serpentine storyline without missing a beat. The fast pace, sly humour and lightning quick changes propel the tale to an unexpected and hilarious climax the Dominion Post described as ‘Quite extraordinary’ and is guaranteed to keep you enthralled to the last second.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed great coffee or the company of a mad relative will love Biscuit and her surreal encounters with both.

‘I rarely drink coffee after 5pm these days. However…Alex Ellis’ performance is well worth staying up all night over. She is a stunner.’ Waikato Times.

For a new way to celebrate coffee don’t miss out on Biscuit & Coffee described by Hawkes Bay Today as ‘An Hour and Quarter of Pure Genius’.

Biscuit & Coffee plays in Coromandel Town, Whitianga and Thames during the Pohutukawa Festival. Tickets are $20 and available at the local i-SITE Information Centre.

For more information visit www.pohutukawafestival.com