A farce in two acts

by Marcia Kash and Doug Hughes

8 characters, (6M/2F), one set

It’s 1932 in Niagara Falls, Canada, where the rum-running business is at its peak. In the aftermath of the Crash, Irving Bubbalowe and his daugher Honey, have risked everything they have to open a new gourmet restaurant. When their star – the renowned singing chef François LaPlouffe – fails to appear, tonight’s grand opening is suddenly placed in jeopardy. However, when unemployed chef Frank Plunkett wanders in looking for work, Honey persuades him to masquerade as the missing LaPlouffe. The beleagured Bubbalowe, meanwhile, also has to contend with Chicago gangster Al Feghetti and his sidekick, who have come looking for an illegal shipment of booze residing in his basement. In addition, Bubbalowe has to keep at bay the hot-blooded Immigration officer Veronica Snook, on the trail of the vanished chef, as well as a suspicious tee-totalling Mountie, who is ready to arrest Bubbalowe for both murder and bootlegging. Madness ensues, and Bubbalowe and the others create a hornet’s nest of fabricated stories (and identities) as they try valiantly to save the restaurant – and themselves – from both the gangsters and the law.

Too Many Cooks‘ premièred at the Lighthouse Festival, Port Dover, Ontario, in late July of 2003 and has since enjoyed a number of productions in Canada. It’s US premiere took place in October 2011.

It was translated into French in 2015 (Le Combats des Chefs) and produced at Théậtre Du Vieux-Terrebonne starring the amazing Bênoit Brière and playing to sold-out houses.

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