Cake.
 Despite having had a pretty solid hand in writing at least three theatre shows that I know of, actor Astrid Pill claims it's very weird performing her own writing. Still.
"I'm quite surprised because people are responding to it," she offers with a laugh. "I shouldn't be, but I am."
Her latest piece is 'Cake', a performance which can only be described as a tasty morsel, as much for the inherent pun as because it's short and quite intriguingly well done. 'Cake' is an examination into the idea of love and obsession, seen mostly through the eyes of a young woman who develops an attraction for a baker. Or does she? Perhaps the attraction and obsession is for the cakes in the pastry shop rather than the man. It's all an extended metaphor, you see.
"I started writing it overseas, but I had Ackland Street in my head as well," she confirms when I question her about the famous Melbourne street crammed with cake shops. "I'd just spent some time in Poland as well, and I was working on it there."
'Cake' is set in a small performance space, the audience gathered around the perimeter, and the floor, a table and a chair liberally dusted with flour. Small cup cakes are scattered around, and the mood is further set for performers Pill and musician Zoe Barry, who serves a simple score of piano accordion, and cello, amongst other instrumentation. It's genuinely a feast for the senses.
Barry plays the perfect foil; she looks serene as she counterpoints Pill's passionate depiction of the 'affair'... "it's amazing, she's incredible, she's one of those people who doesn't do anything that's unnecessary. She just has this instinct for it," gushes Pill.
To be critical, 'Cake' can also be a little difficult to follow. "From the little bits that I write there's elements of truth and fiction wrapped up. And there's something from a past relationship mixed up in it," she admits.
"The indulgence and obsession, I don't feel that it's me, but a lot of imagination. I always want to write about how people feel about things."
This is exactly where 'Cake' gets a bit difficult, because you don't really know whether the performance is of the relationship itself, or of an imagined affair only, and whether the participants in the fantasy - for parts of it are - are one or two persons. Pill laughs as she explains that Director Ingrid Voorendt tried to make the play "a bit more 'universal' so different people can interpret it", and she laughs deeply because we both know there is no way she is going to confirm for me exactly where the story is outlined - or delineated - between fantasy and obsession. It's the teasing secret of this play.
Alex Wheaton
 | Vitalstatistix Theatre's 'Cake' is on at Fringe Alley and Lipson Cafˇ (Port Adelaide) until Sun 5 March |
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