The latest spoof from Lip Service’s Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding, this one plays mercilessly with our current fascination for all thrillers Nordic. The show ‘starts’ when the duo come on stage as a stage hand is still constructing the set with a cheap DIY flat-pack, which when assembled became a giant, reduced-to-clear paperback…..
The book is a great prop, providing the different settings with a not so simple turn of the page. The spoof on the knitted cardigan is taken to extreme lengths, with houses, animals, coffee pots, coffee and a raft of internal organs all provided in knitted form.
As silly as last year’s “Withering Looks” but possibly not quite as sharp or knowing, there were nonetheless plenty of laughs throughout the evening. The car scene with its numerous road kills was a highlight, as was the ‘knitted autopsy’ and the mooses (don’t ask) gate crashing the party scene. We had broken-down but ingenious set devices, the use of back projection and film, and the awkward pauses and side-long looks at the audience for which they’ve become so well known. But for me the second act petered out a little and it wasn’t as consistently laugh out loud as last year’s production..
They know exactly how to perform to a packed out audience. They are able to garner a laugh from one look, one word or even by gently bringing the crowd into the theatrical arena whilst leaving them in the safety of their own chairs. We should never forget that it takes real skill and comedic talent to be this silly. To look as though you are teetering on the edge of disaster takes real control. Definitely worth seeing, and as usual extremely inventive, but for me the ‘Withering Looks’ production was more consistently uproarious.