The ceiling is clanging. the spaghetti casserole is green and the two housewife’s mannerisms are disconcertingly in-sync. In this absurdist comedy, beneath a polite veneer, nothing is quite as it seems…
Shirley (Natasha Rowland), 1950s housewife, is a picture of idealised domesticity – scrubbing floors in a marigold dress to match the marigold gloves that it is apparent she lives in. But when Dottie (Xhloe Rice) arrives to return a casserole tray, despite synchronised displays of social respectability – a polite remark to their husbands’ health – an exchange of recipes – it is clear something is desperately wrong beneath all this. Exploring female autonomy, McCarthyism and queer relationships, as the pretences unravel, so too does the world the characters inhabit.
What hooks you first is the staging. An off kilter window frame, a checkered floor angled to the door and lingering smoke pooling by the table – a large, violet covered centre piece. Jaunty design which, much like the play, has everything veering off in a direction it shouldn’t. The minimalist set is cleverly used, enriching the dynamic performances but also facilitating a sharp theatricality. Without spoiling the gag, our introduction to Dottie is not only artistically satisfying but comedically ingenious.
As performers, Xhloe and Natasha are dazzling. A masterclass in clowning, they provide a physical language on stage which is as comedic as it is unsettling. Moreover, moving from pearl-clutchingly tense conversation to executing slick and dynamic choreography in a moment’s notice, their presence is energising. As a duo, they are able to create a sense of unpredictability within what could have been a conscripted premise, as the dialogue of their initial interaction is repeated and re-imagined throughout the performance, unveiling the hidden meanings beneath them. Allowing the undercurrents of sexual tension to rupture to the surface, sudden wild movement sequences – rap or dance track accompanied – turn their world of social normativity on its axis.
It is when social convention is upturned that the performance is it’s rawest, putting a spotlight on a society which sought to erase queer existences. With tender and emotionally charged moments for both characters, the performance is able to be as emotionally stirring as it is dizzily weird.
A double bill at Soho Theatre with their equally much-acclaimed A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First, which I had the pleasure of attending last autumn at The King’s Head theatre, it must be said that Xhloe and Natasha are reliably brilliant. Three-time consecutive Fringe First Award Winners, and ever so deservedly, What If They Ate The Baby? is a performance unafraid to leap from absurd comedy to stomach churning honesty – and in a political climate where gender roles and sexuality are under a threatening hyper-scrutiny, this is not just entertainment. This is a comedy of horrors which you’d be a fool not to experience.
Running till Saturday 29th March: https://sohotheatre.com/events/what-if-they-ate-the-baby-a-letter-to-lyndon-b-johnson-or-god-whoever-reads-this-first/
Reviewer: Sadie Pearson
Reviewed: 19th March 2025
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 5 out of 5.
