Shirley and Shirley- review by Jo Thorne, Rural Arts ON Tour Manager

ON Tour Rural Arts reviews of Edinburgh Fringe 17-19^th August 2011

What an amazing opportunity to be given the chance to attend the Edinburgh Fringe as a Rural Touring Scheme.  We managed to stay with some lovely friends in Edinburgh so could use our subsidy to good use, on shows!! I tried to see a real mix of work and also saw shows that were not designed with Rural Touring in mind but that could be easily be adapted.

The standard overall was of a very high quality, the only disappointment being the BBC 3 Comedy ‘Best of the Fringe’ on the 19^th August.  I have reviewed a mix of the shows below and my promoter will do the same.

17/08/11

Shirley and Shirley

A comedy duo in New College Assembly Hall

A tiny venue with a total of about 25 people in the audience. The atmosphere felt intense but friendly and the audience were comfortable and at ease with each other.

The opening sequence involved Shirley getting an audience member to fill in for the other Shirley as she was ‘late’ for the evening’s performance. This was an entertaining opening as the audience member was dragged out from her seat, taught a dance, had a go at some press ups and then performed it with Shirley for the introduction to the show. This broke any ice there was to break and left the whole audience smiling.

The show involved a series of sketches ranging from 2 minutes- 5 minutes long including: Britains got Talent, A Canadian psychologist, An incestuous brother and sister, a night out drinking sequence with ‘posh’ ladies, Mr Kipling and a take on time.

The Canadian psychologist sketch was particularly funny and used interaction with the audience to sell the psychologist’s ‘skills’. Audience members provided anecdotes for Shirley to improvise around.

Certain sketches were funnier than others inevitably, but overall the standard of the comedy was high. 

The show would be suitable for Rural Touring as there was no large set and the props were very effective and would be easy to transport.  I laughed almost throughout and would recommend the show for Rural Touring. The two female artists had an abundance of energy throughout and deserve great success.