Them Is Brothers Comedy presents ‘A Dame of Two Halves!‘, a rip-roaring two-act adventure following two sister dames in Panto Land. Presented at Capital Theatre’s The Studio, this show was written and performed by the Harrison and Leo MacNeill and consisted of two one act shows. The first act ‘On The Run: Dame Over!’ which was initially performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, has now been revived with an additional scene to bring an extra flare to the brother’s initial production. Act two, ‘Dame Changer: Hostage To Fortune!’, is a brand new one-act panto and is a sequel to the events from Act One. This cleverly developed exploration into the characters of Panto Land acts as a sort of spin-off version to your typical family-filled pantomime, with a more seedy undertone. The MacNeill brothers bring a wonderful comedic take on the “bloke in a dress” pantomime dame character and, if that wasn’t enough, the two performers multi-role as a collection of other traditional pantomime characters that have been given their own unique twists.
The evening kicked off with an acapella rendition of the original number ‘We Are The Dames’ firmly introducing the characters, leading into lots of audience interaction and wonderful comedic energy. We meet the two dame sisters, Aunty Disestablishmentarianism (Leo MacNeill) and Aunty Biotics (Harrison MacNeill) listing off one liner joke after one liner joke until we discover that Aunty Disestablishmentarianism has committed a hit and run and destroyed King Dom’s most prize possession, his magic bins. Aunty Biotics goes on a heroic journey to reunite with her sister after she goes on the run. The duo’s ability to shift from character to character is impressive, and the pacing of the first act never suffers from this, enabling audiences to be thoroughly entertained. The brilliant use of running gags, interpretative dances and a neatly tied up no questions monologue enables act one to end in a happy ending, or so we think…
We return for act two to our pair of goofy dames now in the witness protection programme. Instead of concealing the fact they’re in the witness protection programme the act opens to a whole number dedicated to this. The two dames go by their new names of Aunty Perspirant (Leo MacNeill) and Aunty Climax (Harrison MacNeill). However, this time, our hero dames are now challenged by the rise of a new threat Dyan the Villain and his henchman also named Dylan, who are set on world domination. Henchman Dylan is sent to the shops to get his master some deodorant and what does he return with? A kidnapped dame and an evil plan “or something”, to remove his master and ascend to his new villain status as Dylan the Villain 2. The two dames must risk everything in trying to save the world. The highlight of this second act is most certainly Harrison MacNeill’s Dylan The Villain 2, which steals the show and allows Harrison’s “Scott Evil” (Austin Powers) like performance to shine throughout, bringing an abundance of comedy throughout especially in the kidnapping Drama GCSE/Highers style enactment, which had audiences howling.
The MacNeill Brother’s comedic writing is tight and hilarious. It certainly does not hold back on cheesy one liners, musical parodies and wonderful amounts of slapstick comedy. The two performers have a clear command of the stage and its audience and allows for the pantomime style antics to flourish throughout. Gus Harrower’s wonderful use of original songs and musical parodies performed in the acapella style, highlights the harmonic talents of the duo and certainly gives this production a unique take on the pantomime genre. The set design was minimalistic and completely effective in bringing audiences into the pantomime world with large pantomime house backdrop, with everything utilised except for the door, which added to the comedy of the whole production. Matched with the colourful and comedically timed lighting designed by Rebecca Matthews.
Overall, I would thoroughly recommend anyone to see this production, whether the two acts are performed together or separately. Both acts stand on their own as two well-crafted pantomime pieces and rightfully deserved the standing ovation given by the audience at the end of the evening. The MacNeill brothers are gifted performers who have brilliant comedic timing and know exactly how to keep the audience in the palm of their hand. The production is versatile and was a perfect fit for the black box studio style performance. If you’re a pantomime lover and looking for a fun filled, whacky evening then this is the production for you.
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