Review: Siblings: Siblage

Set at Siblage High – "a school for talented siblings" – Siblings' latest hour is amplified by Maddy and Marina Bye's bullish energy. Hosting the end of term assembly, as Head Girls, allows the sketch duo to perform events from the school's pupils and faculty. The history department have adapted the lyrics of James Blunt's You're Beautiful to teach about the fall of the Berlin Wall; teachers who can't say no to games of one-upmanship give a talk on sex and peer pressure; an improvised Year Seven version of The Wind in the Willows never materialises for being hijacked by an overbearing teacher, who is needy for attention and hogs the limelight. Instead he presents an American play on fatherhood and sports in three acts throughout the hour – and true to form badgers and scouts the audience in search of a director for the career he thinks he should have had. 

The potential of these sketches is not always realised within the hour – Siblings' galloping pace never completely harnessed. It creates inconsistencies: the Berlin Wall song is slight; the American play is on the long side. But they build a strong rapport with the audience tonight, making everyone in the room comfortable with a down-to-earth friendliness. And the spark and enthusiasm driving their sketches soon spreads from row-to-row.