Review by Lucy Holz
Hot off the Australian festival circuit, Mel and Sam are already hugely popular in their home country, having amassed a cult online following of fiercely loyal fans. And it appears their world domination has already begun, with almost the entire front row being taken up with return theatregoers who, having only seen the show the night before, have come back for round two.
The comedy duo knows their target demographic and play directly to it. It’s the perfect show for musical geeks, theatre kids and queer people who hate babies (or who just think they need to pull their weight).
Mel and Sam have already had to make considerable adjustments to their show to suit the new Edinburgh audience. It appears the Scottish are less enamoured of the ‘f-slur’, requiring the performers to change their song ‘Fagatronanation’ to ‘Pure Imagislaytion’. Despite witnessing one of the first performances with this change, the song is a seamless finale to a raucous hour of netball, dinosaurs and other typical topics of high art.
This cabaret is a tight collection of songs and skits, with seemingly random combinations tied together by the threads of lesbianism, loneliness and a desire to be seen. It is as slick as it gets, with backing track harmonies, voiceovers and dinosaur noises providing the perfect score to a cunnilingus choir.
When it comes to vocals, Mel O’Brien really has the chops. Her voice raises the calibre of every song performed and her ability to imbue each note with her chosen character is exceptional.
We are told during the performance this is their third cabaret together and while the other two had a setting, this is a completely themeless creation. The performance does suffer from this fact, with a lack of cohesion between the songs and sketches making the show feel somewhat scattered.
The cabaret is at its best when the pair are on stage together, either singing or showing off their admirable standup skills. They rely heavily on crowd work to varying degrees of success, Sam lamenting sarcastically at one point ‘and I love that we have a reviewer in tonight!’
This reviewer had a lot of fun and will have ‘babies are cancelled’ stuck in her head for the rest of the festival. Book a ticket before they inevitably sell out (just be wary of the front row…)
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