Review by Steve Bennett

Sister act Gavin and Gavin are ridiculous to the point of annoyance.  This year, they produce an amateurish hour of banter and sketches that completely fail to make any type of positive impact, simply leaving you wondering why they have been so well-hyped. 

The show’s basis is that the two sisters have undergone some sort of dual regression therapy, which allows them to exist in different times and in different guises, while always remaining as essentially the same people with the same mannerisms and gripes against each other. 

Therefore, the show jumps from them being prostitutes in Victorian London to a double-headed court jester to showgirls on Broadway.  These moments are recreated in sketches linked together with dialogues between their ‘normal’ selves, which usually involves bickering with each other. 

For most of the show, where the comedy was even supposed to lie remained a complete mystery.  The duo do not work badly together on stage – having a natural chemistry that encourages a sense of realism in their banter – but nothing ever seems to actually be funny. 

Taking the opening Victorian London sketch. The two actresses wander up the theatre in a purported attempt to find ‘clients’ in the audience.  The premise is that one sister is training the other, and so the rookie repeatedly says completely inappropriate things.  The writing, however, is just lazy and ill thought-out, so we are just left with a  woman making bizarre outbursts of vulgarity.  This one-joke principle is laboured throughout the entire sketch, never offering anything new or interesting into the mix.   

It is also worth mentioning the completely ludicrous and unfunny moments of  flashing lights that repeatedly crop up between segments, where the two dance around together. 

It’s a puzzle how anyone could have thought this would have made an entertaining hour.

Review date: 1 Jan 2005
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett