Amy Butterworth, Online Lifestyle Editor, reviews Comedy Soc’s ‘A Streetcar Named Shakira’.
What do you get when you cross Limmy’s Show with Vines that keep me from ending it all? Apparently you get a sketch show written, produced and directed by the Comedy Society, who aptly intersperse each sketch with funky 80s tunes. Co-directors Jenny Recaldin and Will Lamb put their minds together to birth their brainchild “A Streetcar Named Shakira” – it’s equal parts surrealist zoomer humour, British references, and genuine wit alongside just a dash of punning.
Jenny Recaldin comments that the cast “have worked ruddy hard on this for the last nine weeks, and it’s wonderful to see it all pay off”. And pay off it did; the show somehow managed to find the brilliant, hilarious intersection between bizarre nonsensicality and relatable social commentary. I’m sure we can all recall being with a group of friends, everyone spit-balling sketch ideas, throwing jokes at the wall, curious to see what sticks. The directors, alongside producer Sally Johnson and assistant producers Emma Raby and Katie Garvin, found themselves capitalising on that sticky situation by bringing those weird, wacky, but sometimes damningly relevant thoughts into fruition on stage.
“… the show somehow managed to find the brilliant, hilarious intersection between bizarre nonsensicality and relatable social commentary.”
There was some semblance of a running narrative, as many of the sketches took place in the 34-person inhabited town of Didcot, known famously for its train station Didcot Parkway (Google reviewers revere that “if you’re looking to get a train it’s the best place in town” and “it’s a train station”). The show managed to deepen the lore of this town, as priest book-club reading, train-intercom hijinks and a casual bit of witch-burning gave Didcot some much-needed flair.
The cast executed an impressive catalogue of accents and impressions, including the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow (Charlie Emery) and her business endeavours with lifestyle brand “Goop”, Siôn Watkins stunned the audience with his uncanny Owen Wilson rendition (can we get a “wow” in the chat), and how could we ever forget our lord and saviour Shakira (Shakira), so carefully and faithfully depicted by Mac Adams. Milly Parker and Jojo Maberly also provided huge range, from a brutally honest French mime to front-liner of grammatically preoccupied band “The Whom”.
The on-stage chemistry is something to commend, and an ensemble so cohesive is rare to find in even professional comedy shows. Highlights of the show included a Trapped! sketch, a vine-worthy “John Cena/Owen Wilson” moment (I do admit it elicited a snort from me), and an uncanny representation of a Fresher lad who just so happens to walk in on his housemate post-murder, yet maintains painful rudimentary small-talk and an Exetahh drawl.
“the lighting and sound worked so remarkably to contextualise, intensify and transform the sketches”
Potential budget limitations were completely overshadowed by the prevailing jokes and writing; at one point the boundary between props and costumes became so blurred that Mac Adams sported a mop head to represent Shakira’s glorious hair. Having said this, the lighting and sound worked so remarkably to contextualise, intensify and transform the sketches. And on the topic of Shakira, she became not only the show’s running gag in a self-referential ‘meta’ sketch but an elusive entity, whose presence hung indelibly from the ceiling of the M&D Room (I couldn’t help but think throughout the show: “when will she return?”).
A favourite sketch of mine was simply a cast member smashing a baguette on the floor (which did explain why I saw someone hurriedly and precariously carrying five baguettes through DH1 in the late afternoon); if that doesn’t inspire you to attend the next show that Comedy Society put on, I don’t know what will.
