MUTTON. To 12 December.

Tour

MUTTON
by Mutton Productions.

Tour to 12 December 2007.
Runs: 2hr One interval.
Review: Ranjit Khutan: Friday 23rd March 2007 at Arena Theatre Wolverhampton.

An original stand up show where you leave with more laughter lines than you came in with.

This is a rip-roaring, roller-coaster of a laughter ride with three 40/50-something ladies whose take on reaching that “certain age” will leave you reaching for your Tena - useful for when you’re “laughing too much to care”. Observations about their experiences as women strike a strong chord with the largely female audience, but the jokes about HRT, memory loss and bladder weakness are understandable by both the sexes (Tena the incontinence people sponsor Mutton).

The show opens with a cleverly-pitched direct address to the audience delivered without backing music via text on video (the silence is quickly replaced by the audience’s laughter); this moves into a video montage of short pre-recorded scenes. Having warmed up the audience they appear on stage wearing short skirts, bright coloured tops (no pastel shades here), hair up, make-up on, heels high and packed full of energy (although later on we learn that these could be “hot flushes” which they positively reframe as “power surges”). They’re in the changing rooms, Tammy Girl no less, where their excuse for outfits not looking on them like they do on the models is because the mirrors are distorted.

They go on to wow the audience with their sharp wit in a wine-bar sketch with its hilarious wine/sip/cost-calculation; a party entertainers' sketch which I warn involves some fun audience participation, and a ‘women in power’ sketch where they receive hoots of applause for their “Blair’s Babes” proposal to waive VAT on all feminine hygiene products.

With a total of 12 fresh and original sketches, the team of three use clever innuendo, references and reflections on the trials of growing old to keep the audience laughing from beginning to end. It was only at the end of the show that I realised there was no set – a testament to their skill and talent in filling the space without the need for props.

Cast: Jean Heard, Donna Flinn and Julia Munrow.

2007-04-02 01:36:33