Rating: ★★★
Venue: Dairy Room at Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh
After becoming a viral sensation, identical twins Carine and Frances land in couples therapy as the world’s most co-dependent non-couple. The session erupts into a hilarious musical intervention and a reckoning that threatens to collapse their lifelong duet. Best known as @thegilberttwins to their 3M+ followers online, Carine and Frances return to their musical theatre roots with their original score co-written by Shona Maule. Loud, ridiculous, and unexpectedly heartfelt, this new musical comedy explores the chaos of sisterhood, online pressure, and the search for your own voice.
The Gilbert Twins went to couples therapy to try and sort out their sisterly issues but does it work as a musical?
The premise is strong, and the two skilled actors are accompanied by a live pianist (Shona Maule) who completes the cast, however the piece felt stripped back and lacked a key driving force. Throughout the hour we see ups and downs of each character's current life, with their experiences up until this point told quite directly through exposition. The whole piece is set in one place, with the exception of a few flashbacks, and the scenery stays the same too. It feels as though some variety is needed, and a change of location may help vary the pace slightly too.
With great direction, Carine and Frances tell their true story of navigating a co-dependent relationship with little stakes as we wait and see if they can solve their problems. A nicely written score supports decent lyrics, but it would be interesting to see if there is a bigger version with an orchestrated arrangement to better fill the story and space.
Towards the end we get a moment of tension but this arrives too late. What is ultimately a funny and well performed piece stifles itself by not laying a thicker plot out across the sofa.
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