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More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

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The funny thing about three girls growing up under a tree is that you never quite know when they're being serious or just messing about. One time, they might be talking about giving blow jobs on a tennis court at school and another, they might be yearning for a connection that they can't quite explain. That's what happens in Playfight, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 hit currently showing at Soho Theatre .  Writer Julia Grogan doesn't give us much time to dwell on the lives of these three young teenage girls. One minute, they're fifteen and giggling, and then the next thing, they're off getting married or going to University. But underneath all the smutty talk, humour, and quick scene changes, there is a darker underbelly about relationships, power, and consent. It's about finding your way in a complex world that can dehumanise and degrade you. But as things move so quickly, you could blink and miss it. This is too bad as the performances capturing this co...

Sex, Drugs and Downton: Guilt and Shame Addicted to Everything @sohotheatre

For a brief moment last week, Guilt and Shame took over the upstairs space at the Soho Theatre for some random therapy on addiction, drugs and masturbating penises through glory holes.  Alternating between the bizarre and the offensive, it made for a great night of comedy.

Arriving at the theatre everyone is instructed by Gabe to put on a name tag as everyone is about to take part (unwittingly or not) in an addicts anonymous group.

Then his best friend and eternal gay virgin Rob arrives dragging both themselves and the audience on filthy journey literally to hell and back. The journey includes acting out sex with a swan (pictured above), getting a member of the audience to confront his fear of penises in men's toilets and observations about gay men who have an unhealthy liking for Downton Abbey...


Guilt and Shame have been gathering a following after various shows, including a sell-out run in Edinburgh Fringe last year. It was clear on Friday night they had quite a following already with the audience anticipating their routine and writing on their name tags "sex addict" or "cum whore".

As G&S virgins, all I could do was just hold on for the ride and hope for the best...

The energy levels and the camaraderie between Gabriel Bisset-Smith and Robert Cawsey made the show something more than just a series of sketches and distinctive and funny enough to be a duo to keep an eye out for. And you probably will leave their show humming Scatman...

The run has finished for now but check their website for future dates... Or look up their work on Youtube...

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