Review: THE CAKE at Triangle Productions

Right now, with political divisions seeming to slice through every aspect of our lives, Bekah Brunstetter's 2017 play THE CAKE arrives at triangle productions with uncomfortable timeliness. This show is a funny and insightful exploration of what happens when our convictions collide with our hearts.

The story centers on Della (played by Danielle Valentine), a conservative Christian bakery owner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who faces a crisis of conscience over making a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. The twist is that the couple aren’t strangers – one of the brides is Jen (Setaria DePue), the daughter of Della's Best Friend, who died five years ago. Della finds herself caught between her religious teachings and her love for someone who has always been like a daughter to her.

In Della, Brunstetter has crafted a character who defies easy categorization, and the production's greatest strength is how Valentine brings her to life. Rather than the one-dimensional bigot we might expect, we meet a woman whose steadfast faith genuinely guides her life – someone who believes that "what you have to do is really, truly follow the directions," in baking and beyond.

Yet beneath her public certainty lies private doubt, and her own imperfect marriage (to Tim, played by Dave Cole) adds complexity to her judgment of others' relationships. Valentine navigates these contradictions beautifully – you can watch the internal battle play out across her face as she wrestles with reconciling her love for Jen with her interpretation of biblical teachings and her own yearnings. Brunstetter's writing makes Della not just understandable but sympathetic, and Valentine’s performance makes the entire evening worthwhile.

On the other side of the ideological divide is Macy, Jen's fiancée (Lydia Fleming). A freelance writer, Macy is a caricature of an urban liberal elitist. She approaches the South – and Della – with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, giving lectures about the health risks of sugar and dismissing Della’s beliefs. Her inability to meet people where they are, or even treat others politely, makes the situation more difficult for everyone. She also does something I find unforgivable, but no spoilers!

Caught between them is Jen, an anxiety-ridden people-pleaser carrying a wedding binder and a U-Haul full of pent-up trauma, whose fantasies collide painfully with the reality of prejudice. She learns the hard way that you really can't go home again.

THE CAKE works best when it allows its characters to just be the flawed humans they are. We all have people we love on the other side of various issues, and Brunstetter captures the emotional labor of navigating those relationships while also illustrating how attempting to bully people into changing their beliefs only makes them cling more tightly to those beliefs. The play's most profound insight is that real change happens not through confrontation but through relationship.

THE CAKE runs through September 20. Details and tickets here.