Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Undeservedly pleased with itself, this absurd fantasy is drama-schooly in the worst way, with a weak and overwritten script, smugly over-acted.

The setting is an afterlife where the number one diktat is the most awful thing they could possibly imagine: ‘no performing’. The humanity! Though after an hour of this, you might think the demonic despot who came up with such a rule might be on to something.

There’s obviously a parallel with lockdown, or at least that’s where the Horseplay pair of Kathy Maniura and Derek Mitchell got their inspiration. But it doesn’t have much to say on the issue.

In this netherworld, the characters are commanded by some failed theatrical grande dame type to put together a sex conference because…. erm, well, it’s not really certain. Is this surrealism, or just an ill-thought-through whim? That’s a question you may be asking yourself a few times over the hour.

Still, the premise lets them have the character of a vagina who has written an epic poem, musing: ‘Can a hole ever die whole?’ and her best mate, an anus. There’s an artisanal dildo-maker, too, just to add to the feeling of tackiness. And Timothee Chalamet is in there somewhere.

The duo have a few wryly funny lines, but their script is wordy, with the performers apparently enjoying the sound of their own voices and the chance to monologue theatrically. The show ends with the ‘real’ them analysing preceding events and talking about their own sex lives – but it feels just as artificial as the rest of it.

Maniura – who won the Leicester Square Theatre’s Sketch Off competition in 2020 – and Mitchell have an excellent chemistry, while he can lay claim to an expressive, rubbery face. But this convoluted premise is not a great vehicle for their talents. For every decent idea, there are five duds, which they are rather too pleased to indulge.

• Horseplay: Bareback is at Underbelly Cowgate at 10.30pm

Review date: 7 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Underbelly Cowgate