To me the word ‘bride’ conjures images of women in white gowns, demurely and beautifully gliding about. So when Paula Williamson and Claire Jones bounded on stage looking as though they’d been dragged through twelve hedges backwards, in pajamas stained with various bodily fluids I didn’t think it was a particularly fitting title. However, as the show wore on I remembered that the main right of a bride on her big day is to be able to do whatever she wants and it can’t be denied that this is exactly what this comedy duo were up to.
Their Edinburgh debut, Hangover From Hell, seeks to parody the film The Hangover. The premise is that they have woken up in their dressing room after a very heavy night out on the town and are unable to remember any events of the night before. Slowly they piece together what happened from the contents of a large carrier bag and from an hour of dildo-waving, bad song parodies and cat fights. There’s even a bit of blacking up…
The already patchy script is intermittently interrupted as the two bound out of the room and down the stairs for no particular reason and parodies of television shows are projected on to the back of the stage. Amongst others we were shown a hypnotic Supernanny who suggested that naughty children were put down. Although they didn’t really fit with the show these mildly funny sketches were the only thing that stopped me from walking out. However, since Williamson and Jones were out of the room, a few audience members did take the opportunity to run away.
All in all Brides of Comedy gives you the impression of being a make believe game thought up drunkenly by two immature people, which is probably what it is. These two are definitely an acquired taste and the show is not for everyone.
