Employing just about every current popular culture reference, with a couple of older ones thrown in for good measure, the two Mad C*nts performers (Madi Chetcuti and Maddison Verduci) are here satirising how female friendship seems to be constructed in this internet-mediated era.
The opening night audience was completely on side, and there are some very funny ideas – from a shocked conversation about the implications of buying an underwire bra, to including the audience in reading a witty emoji- and ellipsis-laden text exchange about a haircut, this is a show for the generation born with communication devices in their hands at all times.Â
Both performers spend a lot of time facing each other so, from a technical point of view, it would be improved by both performers ‘triangulating’ to include the audience, so they hear all the jokes, not just some of them – there are more laughs to be had. Both women also speak quickly and loudly, sometimes tripping over words, so clarity – thus jokes – are lost along the way.
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It feels as though they have a limited time to fit in all the ideas; there is no let-up of pace, no air for the language to land and the ideas to register for more laughs, which are certainly there to be mined.
Tickets: $22.50-$26.50
Mad C*nts will be performed at 19 Meyers Lane until 13 April 2025 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
