Phoebe Bakker
As I was leaving this show someone whispered to me with tears in their eyes “what did I just watch” which if you haven’t seen the show sums up my experience perfectly. The Sisters Fig is one of those shows that nothing I could say would do it justice, It’s a show that demands to be experienced in all it’s glory. A show which promises to be anything but boring.
Weirdly nostalgic for anyone who grew up having siblings, the rivalry and friendship is eerily familiar just taken to the furthest extreme you can get. It’s a tale of two sisters who are growing up on a farm in the middle of no where with an alcoholic dad and a co-dependant attachment to each other.
Through absurdism and character comedy we explore the dynamic of these sisters, while we are delivered laughs a minute there are still shining moments where the tenderness of this relationship shines through that serve to highlight the comedy further and giving the audience something to grip onto. The perfect balance of light and dark which compliment the palette of both perfectly. The bizarreness of the show gathers everyone closer, it’s an intimate show and the space makes it feel like we’re sat inside their living room – like we too are a part of this furniture – for better or worse.
The show opens with Wopperer and Ciulli inside a cow, trying to navigate their way through the crowd in the audience without being able to see, they inevitably fail and struggle their way through before spraying everyone with milk. Considering none of us knew what to expect when we walked into this show, this really set the tone for the next hour. Each comedy sketch moves from strength to strength with the performers exploring every aspect of physical comedy, improv, and witty rhetoric leaving me in hysterics by the end.
It’s an interesting moment when you watch a show and you’re already working out how you can sell this to other people, desperate to converse with others to see where you collide in thoughts for how this is presented and as we got further along my excitement became palpable.
Devised through a series of vignettes, at points I forgot I was watching a stage show as the fluidity and their commitment to the comedy flows so intrinsically well through them, it is only when a crowd member is picked for certain bits that I remember that anything could happen. And sometimes anything does happen, which gives us a chance to see their improv skills. I love the connection they have with the audience, the ones they come back to who have shown and interest and build a relationship – it sends us flying with laughter when it does and doesn’t go to plan.
Clown is a notoriously difficult art form, but Wopperer and Ciulli make it look easy. Comedy scenes inter spliced with their home recordings give us a taste of what it’s like to be them. A reminder of when we used to make our home videos with our friends or family – but in a far more ludicrous and crass way.
I cannot sing the performers praises enough, having trained at Gaulier, which is you’re not familiar with is like the RADA of clown school, and my God does it show. These two have such a fresh pair of eyes for comedy. Adapting ideas I have never seen before in way that feels new and exciting.
I’m remiss to try and compare this to anyone else because it just really is it’s own thing. The comedy within this is so specific and I think we are on a start of a journey which will launch this duo into their own following very shortly.
Earth shatteringly funny, The Sisters Fig will leave you a mess of a person but you will have to see it for it to be believed.
Recommended drink: An unpasteurised white Russian (drink with caution)
you can catch The Sisters Fig until the 25th at Assembly Roxy (not the 14th or 19th) at 19:45 Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake Mace
