Just when you think you've seen everything along comes Lachlan Werner. I don't know if he's the world's first queer virgin with a small, squishy witch for a puppet but he's the first one I've come across. Let's just say Voices of Evil is pretty unique.
Pretty unique and also pretty funny. Werner – a choirboy-clad bowlcut dead ringer for Murray Melvin in The Devils (with maybe a hint of Frank Spencer) is a brilliant ventriloquist. You can hardly see his lips move, but then that might partly be because you are transfixed by his witch sidekick Brew, who casts a spell over the audience.
It's not exactly the horrific scariest show that it promises to be, but it is very entertaining as Brew goes into the audience looking for trinkets and dominates proceedings. There's a blood sacrfice and it's coming your way...
Eventually Werner becomes possessed by something or other and we are in for more shock horror treats, a touch of gore and a man onstage in nothing but a pair of pants. But by this time Brew is gone and a little missed. I enjoyed Voices Of Evil most when it stayed closer to the double act vent act dynamic, but Werner certainly deserves plaudits for trying something different.
Imagine Nina Conti meets the Exorcist and, well, you still aren't there. But you've got a very rough idea of what Lachlan Werner and Brew get up to.
A significant debut if not spine-tingling. I'm not sure how you follow this though.
Until August 27. Tickets here.
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four stars