Twisted Loaf Present Stale Mate

100487 original

Clowning is a time-honoured artistic tradition stretching back to the 18^th century. It's part of comedy's cultural heritage and is respected accordingly, to the extent that contemporary clowns are almost absolved of the responsibility to make audiences laugh. Don't you see? They're operating on a higher level than the average standup or sketch troupe.

The thing is, however pretentious this line of thought seems, it's completely warranted where Twisted Loaf are concerned. For Stale Mate's opening spectacle to be greeted with so few laughs this afternoon is largely due to its confrontational, wilfully esoteric qualities. Inhabiting the personae of decadent feminine grotesques, the pair trigger feelings of unease before laughter. The uncomfortable silence preceding our acceptance of the routine ultimately makes it funnier.

Despite the very physical audience interaction peppered throughout their latest show, Nina Smith and Libby Northedge are never intimidating, just viscerally ugly. Their absurd caricatures of high functioning men and women expose primitive vulgarity at the heart of society. Affable blokes conduct themselves like grunting Neanderthals, while champagne sipping socialites exchange banalities with blood cascading from their mouths. At their best, the duo provoke feelings of self-disgust among the audience.

Some moments come uncharacteristically close to conventional sketch comedy, but ultimately provide Stale Mate with an unstable tone and sense of contrast. More volatile than their previous work, the gentler points of this latest hour allow Smith and Northedge to be funny in something approaching a conventional sense.