Review by Steve Bennett

There's lots of fun and games to be had with this duo, quite literally. From hide and seek to charades, the girls embark on all manner of party diversions ­ and always ensuring the audience get thoroughly involved.

These shenanigans merge effectively into their more traditional double-act banter, demonstrating an inventive approach to structure.

But however well put-together it is, the show ultimately seems slight, a lot of clever trickery to support little in the way of material.

Both Faultless and Torrance come across as haughtily odd, although it's a deliberate, stagey type of oddness that relies on them purposefully telling you just how weird they are. The games are supposedly the only way they can retain their friends, so they extend out their turns to stave off the loneliness.

Thus their charade of the last days of Captain Oates spirals on and on until it occupies most of the show, with the girls bantering and bickering among themselves about what they are supposed to be doing. In accordance with double act law, one is dominant and stupid, the other compliant and stupid.

There are some brief moments of hilarious stupidity, and the Amusements we're asked to participate in have an inherent sense of fun irregardless of how the gamesmistresses are shepherding them. But the laughs are too infrequent to lure you into their world and convince you that Faultless and Torrance are anything more than good-natured playmates.

Review date: 1 Jan 2004
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett