Cooking with Puccini
EdinburghGuide.com **** review
Cooking With Puccini dresses itself as a cookery programme come chat show, it's a concept that works brilliantly. The stage is transformed into a television studio with an island for food preparation sandwiched between two interview chairs and a piano. The logo "LL" is placed on the back wall which one soon learns is the abbreviation for the shows name "Living With Lynsey". Lynsey Tash plays the part of the host and does so with an infectious smile and tremendous energy. She is also a talented soprano whose mischievous partnership with Puccini helps produce a thoroughly enjoyable production.
What makes the show particularly delightful is Jeffrey Mayhew's execution of Puccini. Written not as an Italian but instead as a Yorkshireman this Puccini brings his own brand of northern humour to the stage. With wife jokes and sexual quips in all but a few of his exchanges the entertainment show that is "LL" is exactly that. Mayhew is a natural performer and brings his gifted but just as promiscuous character to life excellently. As well as being effortlessly engaging he has a good singing voice and is as equally at ease behind the piano as he is in the kitchen.
With some simple but effective direction this production offers an eclectic mix of music, humour, dance, song and food. It is hugely entertaining and funny throughout. Moreover if one splashes out on a fifty pence programme the recipes from the show are inside and one can continue Cooking With Puccini at home.
Nathan Witts 17 August 2006