Nuns of Fury written by Liv Burton is an exuberant tribute to the action movie genre and a heck of a lot of other things as well.
Perhaps aware Sister Michael from Derry Girls set a high bar for intimidating nuns, Burton moves away from brides of Christ and spoofs TV shows which, while fondly remembered, weren’t that good. The obvious target is Charlie's Angels,but Burton’s scattershot approach means highly unlikely shows get drawn into the fond parody.
Sisters Agnes, Gabriel and Julien (respectively Emily Spiers, Hannah Millington and Molly Hurst) have personal problems. Sister Gabriel is cripplingly anxious, while Sister Julien is unaware of the meaning of celibacy and so is heavily pregnant. But together they form The Nuns of Fury and, equipped by Father Q (Jake Smeeton) and supervised by Mother Superior (Emily Millington), they plunder religious relics and return them to the church.
Property developers wish to acquire the headquarters of the nuns (it is, of course, on top of a gold mine) and hire Benny (Josh Hawley) and Angelo (Luke Richards) to frame the nuns and destroy their credibility. Worse is to follow as it becomes apparent there is a traitor in the nunnery.
Co-directors Liv Burton and Natalie Patuzzo risk obscurity in the shows they plunder. The theme from best-forgotten You've Been Framed plays as the nuns realise they have been set up. In the main, however, the co-directors concentrate on poking fun at the action and caper genres. Gunfights are played in slow motion, characters declare that they will be back and a robbery involves ducking laser beams—well, treads of wool. The voice of God (Dom Brown) provides religious ‘fun facts’.
The show is structured so each cast member gets a solo spot performed live to recorded backing. Vocals are excellent, with Emily Millington raising the roof. The score by Burton is soft-rock and the lyrics acknowledge the spiritual background—"It’s a vocation not a vacation".
The tremendously committed cast throw themselves (almost literally—regularly leaping from the stage) into their performances, doubling as a chorus and background dancers. Sound effects—the noise of slaps, wood breaking or guns loading—enhance the cartoon nature of the stylised fight scenes. The performances are not subtle, at times the cast seem to be competing to see who can go furthest over the top, but they suit the wide-eyed, anything goes atmosphere.
The first act of Nuns of Fury is both entertaining and endearing. However, co-directors Burton and Patuzzo are unfamiliar with the concept ’enough is enough’ and the play overstays its welcome, running an hour past the scheduled 90 minutes. The plot is largely forgotten in the second act—the motivation of the traitor within the organisation is never clarified. As a result, act two becomes self-indulgent, more a collection of jokes (granted funny ones) than a coherent narrative.
Nuns of Fury is a crowd-pleasing show, but if Rocket Whip aspire to move beyond the fringe, they might need to consider a more focused approach. In its present format, Nuns of Fury is exhausting as well as exhilarating.