Love this. Short but definitely not sweet except in the aftertaste of revenge. I caught Miranda Jonte's June 22 "Back Porch Theatre" reading; she captured Mabey's subtext perfectly. Super writing. A few brush strokes and voila! Love the human being Mabey has created, someone whose quiet life and love are sneered at by an adult bully but they get their cake and they make their bully eat it too.

This is a terrific, acid-tipped monologue that stings and burns even more in retrospect. Read it, listen to it at least twice.

With barely a nod of exposition, John Mabey makes the backstory and the stakes for Jules and the unseen audience abundantly clear.

I loved the June 22 performance of "Secret Ingredient" on Back Porch Theater on Facebook. Actor Miranda Jonte was brilliant in letting viewers feel Jules' tumultuous emotions although they were strongly under wraps. I gasped at the suddenness of the ending and its devastating insinuations.

The veiled everything here is reminiscent of Strindberg's THE STRONGER. I do love subtext and Mabey's piece is a goldmine. Everything feels more dangerous with this kind of indirect-yet-direct address and only writers so clear in knowing what they want to say- and how- are successful at it. Home run.