Back home, I’m still not entirely sure what I just watched – but I loved it. DYKE Systems Ltd. is part satirical comedy, part burlesque performance and brilliantly anarchic.

The play opens in an 80s Revlon-esque business seminar, where a literal glitter box pyramid scheme takes centre stage. ‘Dykes’ Susan and Sally are here to pitch to you ‘A lucrative business opportunity’ and without wanting to spoil it for you – there isn’t really a product.

Whilst I found myself slightly grasping for where the story was going at first, the vivacious performances of duo Susan (played by Kheski Kobler) and Sally (played by Holly Wilson-Guy) had me locked in for the ride – wherever it was going.

An early tension of a mystery caller keeps us hooked, whilst Susan and Sally pitch their product in the hope of signing up the unsuspecting audience, after all DYKE Systems Ltd. isn’t just a “Is all about community.”  These moments of breaking out into absurd skits – the history of businesswomen starting with Eve turning the satanic serpent into a designer handbag – were brilliantly choreographed and finely finessed. This was organised chaos at its best.  

The music helped carry the scenes, transporting us from a stuffy conference room to a dive bar in Hicksville where Sally was recruited by Susan and began her journey from being a hiker-boot wearing nobody to living the pink-washed ‘American Dream’.

Ambitious, effervescent, Mar-a-Lago faced Susan tows a firm line in the pitch, Sally, her besotted assistant, first recruit and sometimes lover, follows her every instruction. It created a hilariously symbiotic dynamic that made us love both characters equally. The writing was witty and sharp with no queer-shaped pun left unturned, and all delivered with a panicked smile as this pink lipstick-smudged, #bossbitch fantasy falls apart around them. 

But there’s trouble in paradise, and the collapse of DYKE Systems Ltd. after threats from the FBI (because – yep, there wasn’t actually a product) forces a moment of vulnerability from both Sally and Susan. Sally is forced to confess the true depth of her feelings for Susan, whilst Susan must confront her own denial in accepting the infidelity of her husband and embrace the deeper connection with the woman stood in front of her. 

But before we get too earnest, Susan and Sally strip off their polyester power suits, spray each other with water guns and mount a motorcycle in a Thelma and Louise style getaway.

Beyond the silliness, at its heart, DYKE Systems Ltd. is a story of stripping away the pressures of corporate pink-washing and accepting who you really are – all delivered with a wink.