Train Cake review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

How does one begin to describe Train Cake? From the moment Heather Valentine steps on stage, it’s clear we’ve all boarded a very different train, and the destination is wonderfully bizarre. While it explores themes around death, mourning and grief, this is not your average tale of grief.

Valentine plays Evelyn - or “Lucky” - the last living member of her family after the recent passing of her grandmother. Once a prodigy of the children’s birthday cake circuit (think duck, race car, and diorama cakes), Evelyn has sworn off making any further sweet delights. That is, until her beloved sourdough starter Steve, is taken. And by taken, we're talking a Liam Neeson-style unique set of skills scenario where Evelyn must face her past and kick some serious ass. Valentine gives a bold and compelling performance, embracing the strangeness of the world being created but grounding it in something deeply human.

This world is also a sensory adventure: peculiar, unconventional, and surprisingly comforting. Valentine and director Carl Whiteside have conjured a universe just askew of our own. It’s odd, but never alienating. In fact, it’s invitingly odd. The sound effects that dress the domestic soundscape in Evelyn’s home are detailed and immersive, but I wish they had been used more consistently while she is at home.

I walked into this without knowing anything beyond what is printed on the show description, and it is such a joy when that pays off. I would love to write about the visual elements but honestly, the less you know, the better. Discovering them as the narrative unfolds is half the fun. The interplay between live performance, voiceover, and projection is inventive and gleeful, with the voice acting also delivering genuine, laughter-filled charm.

Train Cake is a heartfelt show with the right amount of unhinged. It’s a grief story that is layered with absurdity and theatrical genius, where the surreal becomes cathartic. It expertly uses the weirdness of the show to share something authentic and real, and a reminder that everyone's experience with loss is unique. Confronting grief doesn’t always look the way we expect, and Train Cake is deliciously weird theatre.

SHOW DETAILS

Venue: Meat Market, 2 Wreckyn St, North Melbourne
Season: until 12 April | Tues - Sun 7.30pm
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $30.50 Full | $25.50 Conc & Tightarse Tuesday
Bookings: Melbourne International Comedy Festival