Eve Miller
Showgirls, sisters… rats? Fame, sisterhood, and inter-species politics are explored in this absurd comedy performed with abandon by real-life sisters Avi and Amelia Gorman.
The concept of The Spectacular Vermin Sisters is everything that I love in a production: camp, weird, subversive, and silly. It follows two (human) showgirl sisters and their two jealous rat counterparts who live under their floorboards. There is also a rat puppet called Big Daddy who traverses the divide between the two sets of sisters, playing them against each other, and partaking in enthusiastic interspecies intercourse in the process.
The atmosphere and idea is there, the aesthetic is compelling, and there were moments of real comedy interspersed throughout the production. The Gormans were committed to their roles, whether playing stars of the stage, scheming vermin, or a sleazy rat producer. They approached the comedy with gusto and a light and loose sensibility. The production design and use of space and props is genuinely impressive, adding a layer of sophistication to the performance.
This looseness, however, does not serve the production as I hoped. At the beginning of the production, it heightened the comedy, giving the audience permission to laugh and delight in the ridiculousness of the concept. By the end of the production it gets old, suggesting a lack of rehearsal or preparedness that grates on an audience who has chosen to spend their evening with the sisters. The cabaret elements are underproduced and disjointed, making me wonder what the rats are so jealous of in the first place, and the rats themselves are overblown past the point of caricature.
Joyfully mischievous if a little underwhelming, The Spectacular Vermin Sisters is a raucous and unique evening in The Caves.
Drink recommendation: Lashings of champagne, darling (just watch out for rat poison)!
You can catch The Spectacular Vermin Sisters: Taking Back What’s Ratfully Ours at Just the Wee One at Just the Tonic at The Caves from 6-17 Aug at 22:50 (50 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Isobel Jacob
