It might be easier to start with what this show is not… It’s not conventional, there is no story and you won’t see or hear much of Dolly Parton herself. But then we wouldn’t expect anything else from Sh!t Theatre. Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit have worked with improv, performance art and music and they use all these skills and more to create this mash-up piece of theatre called Dollywould. It is an audacious, challenging and outrageous show.

The flyer says, ‘Becca & Louise love Dolly Parton’. Maybe they do? They say it was a love of Dolly that brought them back together as a couple. They’ve been to the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee and they had Dolly tattoos inked onto there legs from the tattoo parlour nearby. They tell us about this trip with their holiday snaps projected on the wall behind them. They perform the show dressed as Dolly… kinda: they have blonde wigs, white-face make-up and denim shorts, and the pay homage to Dolly’s famous bosom by exposing their own. We hear snippets from interviews with Dolly Parton, but only the interviewers part; Becca and Louise sing Dolly’s words back to us with their robotic dual voices and clever vocal harmonies. They tell us about Dolly’s life and achievements. But there is another famous Dolly they want to present to us. This one was also special, you might say unique. Descriptions and accounts of the two Dollys’ lives are intertwined to reveal a message about cloning and branding, image and authenticity. You wouldn’t believe the range of Dolly Parton merchandise that’s available at Dollywood.

Becca and Louise thrash their way through this performance with energy and verve. They have brought their personal stories, attitudes and opinions to the stage and mixed them with music, movement, images and sounds to create an expressive and yet intimate performance. Several parts are repeated and distorted for emphasis, which is a clever technique even if it doesn’t always work. They use this intelligent and energetic show to bring us a subtle message about their private lives, their sexuality and what it means to be a lesbian.  The duo have an engaging and amiable manner and get warm responses from the audience. At the start they creep onto the stage like a couple of shy kids; by the end they are boisterous, unfettered and wilful. They approach serious themes with a playful fashion using humour, shock and wonder to engage the spectators. Amongst the visual alliteration there is wool, a scanner and white sheets. Dollywould is multi-layered, complex piece that belies its simplistic appearance. As the girls say “It takes a lot of work to look this sh!t”.  ★★★★☆   Adrian Mantle    19th March 2018