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The Wau-Wau Sisters
Verdict: Naughty!
Edinburgh 04 - Pleasance Two - 17:40 (18:40)
It's hard to work Beckett, Pinter or Proust into a review about stripping schoolgirls, but here goes.
The Wau-Wau Sisters present an hour of vigorous sexual fantasy, with a gentle charm that constantly endears.
Vigorous, because these two muscular athletes are never still - and, er, climax the show with a trapeze act of such breathtaking skill that it defies belief. Mind you, no-one's ever watched a trapeze act quite so closely before. The Wau-Wau Sisters wear very few clothes.
Fantasy, because there's no sex. It's a teasing show, and all the sexier for that. Their headline act, showcased at Metro's Opening Party, is the stripping schoolgirl routine. It's also the show's best piece.
Lights are up as the audience enters. The Wau-Waus stroll among them in dressing-gowns, chatting with everyone. As the show progresses, they bring house lights up and wander round again. They create and sustain a comfortable and relaxed feel to the room. Even when they bring a volunteer from the audience, there's no embarrasment. They bridge the traditional divide between stage and auditorium.
The Sisters become a couple of uniformed schoolgirls. To Sister Christian (Night Ranger), they kiss, wrestle and undress each other. There's religion too - with crosses, communion wine, halos and holy pictures. At the end they're in white bras, pants and socks.
It's a fabulously erotic routine - far more sexy than a live sex show in Soho. There's the 'naughtiness' that appeals so much to British people. The Wau-Waus are very naughty indeed.
The Sisters are T, Tanya Gagné (with darker hair) and A, Adrienne Truscott (with lighter hair) - former circus performers who met in the 1990s. Wau-Wau is said vow-vow and means woof-woof to German-speaking dogs.
A & T are in blonde wigs, rhinestones and red ra-ra skirts for Cuntry Girls. It's a dirty and funny parody of ineptly-played country music, with lots of gay badinage and filthy rhymes. There are high-kicks too, and they end with the splits.
A couple of helpers come on - to cover a costume-change break - with pot-plants that sing and dance to Daisy Daisy. The Sisters return in spectacular umbrella hats, tinsel streamers, and not much else (but all of it camp). They dance to a strangulated soprano version of Tiptoe Through The Tulips
There's a dance with audience volunteer Tom, then one sister mounts the other to sing Jesus Is Coming. It's not a hymn, and not kind of coming the Son of God had in mind.
There's a witty sequence filmed in an American street showing the Wau-Waus dancing to a crowd, who become the audience as the real Wau-Waus burst through the screen. It's to You Sexy Thing.
The girls strip off behind shower screens in a funny sequence involving objects used rudely, and Action Man. They're into black torn tights, shorts, tiny tops and straggling wigs for a funny heavy metal parody - the Sisters playing guitar and drums. The finale is the remarkable trapeze performance by both women to Guns 'n' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle.
Sexy? Astonishingly. The Wau-Waus each have individual and different beauty. They're fine athletes. They have a deft sense for the humour of their routines - without the chance of a pun (especially if it's a knob gag) going missing. There's a impish glaze to it all - sleaze without danger. And not a hint of Beckett, Pinter or Proust.
Cast Credits (alpha order): The Wau-Wau Sisters are: Tanya Gagné and Adrienne Truscott. Support performers: Nina Davis, Kristen Slaysman.
Company Credits: Costume Designer - Alejo Vietti. Technical Manager / Production Supervisor - Richard Dibella. Director - Trip Cullman. PR - Alex Gammie. Producer - Jason Eagan (for Ars Nova, New York).
END
John Park
reviewed Tuesday 9 August 04 / Pleasance Two
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
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