"What happens when you stop people-pleasing and instead make yourself edgy, sexy and cool?" is the somewhat ironic proposition of a new comedy co-written and co-performed by Paul Macauley and Laura Mugridge. It was seen at Reading’s South Street as part of a south east tour, which continues on 22 February at the Swan Studio in Worcester.
These experienced and award-winning writer-performers previously worked together on My Heart is a Spark, "a show about grief and bouncing back", which won a Brighton Fringe Audience Choice Award.
Laura Mugridge is a specialist in autobiographical theatre, a genre which, according to one listing, also includes such celebrated dramas as Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Paul Macauley describes himself as a theatre-maker and playwright. Together they have created 70 minutes of gently edgy entertainment aimed at—and referencing—the kind of lovely people who like to shop in Waitrose.
The performance begins with much angst about five-star reviews. A reviewer from this web site is apparently in the audience, and one of the performers leaves the stage to buy them a drink. Coolness and not giving one is subsequently explored with a song, some fake impro and a send-up of dodgy PowerPoint presentations. But coolness takes more than leather jackets and dark glasses or even standing like a flamingo, and it’s niceness that wins out in this amiable if somewhat baggy show.
The dialogue is polished and funny and the performances are slick and carefully observed. Reading’s Waitrose crowd laughed a lot. The performers engage directly with the audience (to the extent of getting one game audience member up on stage) and then get more laughs by stepping back to interrogate each other on how they’re doing. The kookiness ends with fake tattoos and warm thanks from two likeable characters who are successfully playing themselves.
Paul And Laura Don’t Give a Shit is a funny and heart-warming show. But in terms of plot and overall message, somewhat incomplete.