This pet-themed portmanteau doesn’t quite rise to something more than the sum of its parts, but the parts are, in themselves, plenty tasty. Tastier than the show’s title might indicate.

Co-written by Mary Rachel Brown (who has written about dogs and their handlers before in the excellent The Dapto Chaser) and Jamie Oxenbould – who rather brilliantly played a pet chimp named Trevor a few years ago – Chicken in a Biscuit explores the complex relationships between humans and their pets from both perspectives. 

Chicken in a Biscuit: Jamie Oxenbould. Photo © Becky Matthews

Staged in a carpeted pet daycare-style set (an excellent Kate Beere design), the evening begins with a monologue from a sweet-tempered, elderly chocolate Labrador (played by Oxenbould in brown tracksuit and floppy ears), who reminds us that, for dogs at least, communication is more olfactory than anything else. His owner might not be the best at expressing love, but old Truffles can smell it from the other side of a footy oval. 

Next we encounter a sassy Burmese Blue (very sassily played by Mandy Bishop,of Wharf Revue renown), a pedigree cat in the throes of adjusting...