Vulvarine: Smart, vibrant musical comedy – a must watch

 

Author: Molly Pipe

Bryony Buckle yearns to become the woman of her dreams. A woman who keeps her BMI under control. A woman who doesn’t have too many panic attacks. A woman who has a slightly more interesting job than working in an office in High Wycombe.

Instead, she becomes a superhero.

Dressed in purple lycra and sporting a particularly fetching set of Woverine-esque claws, superhero Bryony is the result of an ethically dubious injection of ‘hormone therapy’ and a fortuitously-timed lightening bolt. ‘You’re sort of like a weird mix of lots of existing fictional superheroes,’ gasps best friend Poppy, in a classic example of the show’s stating-the-obvious humour.

This is certainly a play that is built on a love of Marvel. It takes all the elements of a classic action flick, spins them around with a dollop of silliness, and ejects them onto the stage like the confetti gun that is set off, to a wave of audience laughter, at the climax of the show. And just as the play has an unconventional hero, so it boasts an equally wacky villain. Meet Keith Herlit, evil scientist extraordinaire, complete with rounded goggles, silver hair and a team of gibbering minions. Branding himself ‘The Mansplainer’ (‘Mansplainer: someone who is a man and who explains thing unnecessarily to women’, he explains, unnecessarily, to the woman who has just told him the term), Herlit is on a mission to embezzle the tampon tax and restore the patriarchy to its full glory. It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with his repressed homosexuality.

This is another stunner of a show from Fat Rascal Theatre. Sharp-eyed and skilled in satire, they present theatre that is as didactic as it is funny. The years that the company have spent performing and training together (many are graduates of East 15) shine through in their ensemble cohesion. Every joke is landed without fault, every intricate piece of physical comedy timed perfectly. And whilst individual performances  stand out (the cast really is excellent), they wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the lightening-quick give and take of the ensemble.

Anarchic, fresh-faced and funny, Vulvarine is a must-watch show from a company on the rise. Buy your tickets now.

*****

Vulvarine tours nationally until 12th July, with performances in Rotherham, Huddersfield and Doncaster. More information here.