As a safety briefing warns of imminent riotous and potentially offensive exploits, the show’s double-act can be heard bickering in the wings, nervously anticipating their approaching performance. Emerging onto the elaborately decorated Music Hall stage, the hosts introduce themselves to the crowd, confirming the announcement’s threats by promising death-defying stunts, poker games and live sex shows. But Boris and Sergey are no ordinary Eastern European Vaudevillians. Measuring about a foot in height, the blank faced puppets are only distinguishable by Boris’ chest hair and the three different actors used to animate them.
The power dynamic between the duo is evident from the start. The domineering Sergey leads the show, performing the feats professed at the start, whilst the hen-pecked Boris gets the crowd onside with his attempts to joke. Then the show’s central event takes place, a poker game featuring select members of the audience where the stakes are very high indeed. Setting off a dramatic chain of events, the show reaches its climax, closing with an ending that you won’t forget in a hurry.
Each manned by three actors, the two puppets are expertly operated and vocalised. The cultural references and soundtrack were insanely random, breaking the conceptions of Vaudevillian cabaret, whilst somehow seeming completely appropriate. Hilarious and excruciating from start to finish, Boris and Sergey’s Vaudevillian Adventure is an unexpected masterpiece.
