Rosie Thorn lives in Featherington-On-The-Wold and Patsy Cornish lives in Chavlington-On-The-Wold. One is immaculately preened like a 50s pin-up, covered in ribbons won at the WI and with strong ideas about the type of person welcome in her society. The other pays little attention to personal hygiene, lives on fast food and has a devilish plan that should see her climbing into the elite ranks of Featherington-On-The-Wold. The two are arch-enemies, determined to take each other out to get what they want and they take the stage in turns throughout this one-woman show.
In true comedy cabaret style, the characters are thoroughly exaggerated. Rosie Thorn is gaspy, shrill and posh, as unlikeable as her stooped, bitter counterpart. The costumes are funny and Mr. Gardener puts in a great performance on the accordion. Rosie and Patsy both break out into little raps that have very recognizable manipulated choruses, full of dirty lyrics and sexual puns, drawing laughs from the audience every time. The Rosie character often engages with and makes fun of the audience, which develops her slightly more than the Patsy character, who has less stage time. Both characters are choreographed thoroughly and move well around the stage; it must take a lot of endurance to perform this show daily.
Despite all of this, I couldn’t help but feel that the show was lacking a story. The plot is simple, predictable and sometimes boring – not deep enough to be a comment on class but not superficial enough to be enjoyed as pure meaningless fun. The show has a great capacity for comedy based on easy, empty laughter, but it is also presented as a theatrical show with a developing plotline and it is on this side that Rosie Thorn falls a little short. The audience seemed to enjoy the show, but as a stand-up routine this could have worked even more effectively.
