Two Man Show

Performance duo RashDash have a strong track record for punky, provocative theatre. This show, that starts loud and gets louder, is no exception. 

There are three stages: a kind of history lesson where Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen, dressed in silver seventies glam rock dresses, take us through a history of gender (in)equality from hunter-gatherers to the present day; then Greenland and Goalen play two brothers arguing and looking after their dying dad, while between these scenes they strip naked and dance and sing.

Finally, theres the bit that elevates this show to something spectacular. As RashDash’s exploration of masculinity hits the 60-minute mark, as we’re all reaching our measured, thoughtful conclusions, suddenly Two Man Show rises above itself. Greenland refuses to stop playing her male character John. John gets into an argument with Goalen, stops her from doing her dance bit. The two of them argue about patriarchy, language, feminism, man-hating, woman-hating – and it’s bewildering. It asks and challenges every question that’s swirling around the ether, pre-empting all its criticisms. It is its own deconstruction.

Every element before that final chapter is brilliantly done. The performances are astonishing in their intensity, in the sudden shifts between modes and characters and costumes, in the ferocity tinged always with humour. There’s always an undercurrent of humour. At one point the two of them, topless and with rolling pins wedged between their legs like phalluses, engage in a kind of faux frottage. 

But it’s that last bit that pushes the show to the next level. A noisy, messy thrill.