Val: How do you even start to describe this show?

Jay: An absurdist, feminist, variety sketch show? Any if you're offended - well you are not audiencing right.

V: It throws you off balance right from the start.  They open with a complete piss-take of a ‘creation myth’ and the role women tend to take in them.  To start with I couldn’t tell if it was serious or not, right up to point the egg-based desserts start to come up.

J: Absolutley!  These two women defy any and all expectations you might have come in with.  If you had the idea it would be a raunchy or subtle build up to a nipple reveal, they completely confound you in the second skit…

V: … when they pull their pants down, lift up their shirts and launch into a talking minge routine. 

J: Puppetry of the Pudenda!

V: It reminded of  those wonderful Kath and Kim patio dialogues they had behind the closing credits.  But with more pubic hair.

J: And I was so pleased they revisited these characters several times.  And if anything deserves to become a national catch-phrase it’s “Naaaaailed iiiiit!”

V: And listen, as anyone who knows me can tell you, if there’s one thing I hate more than poetry – its mime.  And this show had both. Both.  And I flippin’ loved it.  Sarah’s face in particular managed to command the entire room on more than one occasion, so expressive was she.  It was like she had a whole show within a show just sitting there on top of her neck.

 J: And Jess was no slouch in the physical theatre dept either, with the added bonus of having a splendid set of pipes on her.  And she was great at accents too – a real talent.

V: You know, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but this was clowning (which, in the past, I would have eaten my own feet off rather than walking into a theatre to see) at a high level.

J: In effect, the show is a series of fairly unrelated skits in a giddy and surprising range of styles.  All of them out on the surreal edge of parody and absurdism. 

V: And which may or may not have included improv – it was so hard to tell if it was spontaneous or rehearsed.  Always a good sign, in my book. 

J: And you had no time to catch your breath in between - one of them literally disappeared behind the back screen at the end of one section as the other popped out the other side to start the next one.  It didn’t give you much opportunity to applaud.  But the show was so engaging, and had us laughing and gasping so much, I hope Jess and Sarah understood how appreciated the action was, even without the applause.

V: And if anyone is wavering about going to see it because of a concern about audience participation, rest assured it’s a non-issue.  It’s much more about audience engagement and challenging pre-conceptions.  One person was singled out by the strange party-obsessed Brazilian character, but wasn’t made the brunt of a joke.  Quite the opposite.  And one person was picked out in a call and response section.  And yet again I was forced to suspect a ‘plant’, because her response was so utterly perfect she practically got a standing ovation.  So yes, the audience is definitely invited to interact, but no one was called up onto the stage.

J: Jess and Sarah said in a recent radio interview that they set out to make nudity, especially female nudity, a non-issue.  And they wanted to confuse and confound the male-gaze.  I think we can give them full marks for achieving just that, ay?  The nudity moved around between fun, incidental, the centre of the gag and being absolutely nothing at all.  The only mildly sexualized part of the show involved a giant nipple that completely obscured the actor.  So they did what they set out to do and then some. 

V: And Jess’ dad was in the audience the night we saw the show.  She claimed at one strange point that he’d donated his neck to her, and that it was normal.  I beg to differ.  I think it was a solid brass neck, and I hope he’s justly proud! (and it you don’t understand that Briticism – you’ll just have to look it up!) 

 Z I N G  ! 

(Go and see if it gets another run – you'll love it!)