David Cox
Jun 26, 2025
Whilst in Birmingham, primarily for some tennis, DarkChat David also took the time out to watch a new musical - "Scouts - The Musical". This is produced by Gigglemug Theatre, who are returning to the festival with last year's success "Jaffa Cake - The Musical". Artistic Director Sam Cochrane kindly gave us a lovely interview to whet our appetite.
Hi Sam, we really enjoyed Scouts in Birmingham recently and have read about your success with A Jaffa Cake Musical last year, the latter is returning to the Fringe this year, so for those people who know nothing about it, what should they expect?
A Jaffa Cake Musical is inspired by the real life 1991 tribunal which saw McVitie’s face off against the Tax Man to prove that a Jaffa Cake is a cake rather than a biscuit! We were lucky enough to sell out our entire run last year so it only made sense to bring the production back this year for its final run!
Where you surprised how well received it was?
We were all obviously super proud of the production but could never have anticipated the reception we received from audiences and critics alike. It was a real joy for us all!
Will it be the same cast?
The entire cast from last year will be returning but with a couple of new actor-musicians to make the production bigger and better than ever!
Do you like a Jaffa Cake? And how many should you eat at one sitting?
Well, there are actually 520 different ways to eat a Jaffa Cake, so I suppose you should try them all?
Your show is at 2.00p.m. How will you pace your day?
That entirely depends on how we sell but I imagine it’ll be: flyering, performing, then watching as many shows as we physically can!
Edinburgh performers notoriously appear in more than one show. Are other cast members in other shows? (I have already spotted Katie Pritchard has one).
Our lovely Alex Prescot & Katie Pritchard will both be performing in their solo shows, and the brilliant Harry Miller will be in How To Win Against History.
In recent years are favourite musical theatre group is Zenith, Theatre based in Bath. I believe there are links between Gigglemug and Zenith?
As we’re a Bath-based company, three of our cast members for A Jaffa Cake Musical used to perform in Zenith productions when we were younger! It definitely was something that got us all really interested in musical theatre and is the reason we work together now!
We are currently preparing our list of shows for this year. Have you worked out who would like to see this festival?
John Tothill is always my number one recommendation, I’m very keen to see Garry Starr and Crybabies again this year too!
Thanks to Sam for taking the time to answer our questions, you can see A Jaffa Cake Musical at 14.00 at Forth at Pleasance Courtyard. Tickets for that, and the other shows Sam mentioned, are all listed below.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-jaffa-cake-musical
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/alex-prescot-cosy
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/katie-pritchard-i-kiss-the-music
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/how-to-win-against-history