Where were you, Wellington? There was a daffy, wee Fringe show that was sorely in need of an audience last night and you weren’t there. 

Not that the lack of bums on seats seemed to affect the hosts of My Celebrity Husbands and Maybe Some Wives. Bronwyn and Jose, the stars of the evening have the sort of offbeat, throw away style that enables them to skate over the obvious difficulties of performing a show the needs audience participation, without much of an audience present. (For the record, 6 people is not an audience. It’s a committee meeting or possibly a quiz team.)  

My Celebrity Husbands and Maybe Some Wives is a 50 minute odyssey to find Bronwyn the celebrity husband of her dreams. Ably assisted by Jose ( Bronwyn’s current husband and a man not much given to jealousy it would seem), Brownwyn lays out her requirements and lets the audience loose on the issue . There’s a survey, a focus group, an old-school overhead projector and everyone gets to tootle on party horns. It’s all good, silly fun.

The lack of an audience is slightly problematic. Some bits that might have snowballed into something amazing with lots of audience interaction, here fade away quickly. There’s also some comic bumbling, particularly at the beginning, which comes across more as “We don’t know what we’re doing” as opposed to signalling that things are intentionally off the cuff.

However the whole enterprise is entertaining and funny and raises lots of interesting questions about the marriagebility of former Pakistani cricket players and how various celebrities might get on down at the Avondale RSA. 

It’s not a big show but it does deserve a bigger audience. If it gets one, the chances are it will absolutely fly. 

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Toy submarines. Guns. Figurines of Buzz Lightyear. All of these things have been found up bottoms. But My Celebrity Husbands and Maybe Some Wives may be the strangest and most wonderful thing yet found inside an Ass.

Upon entering the Old Folks Ass you will take your seat, which will have a pen, a short quiz and a party horn stashed beneath it. The show will open with enigmatic co-hosts Bronwyn and Jose hyping you up as though they’re introducing The Ellen Show. You will love it.

For the price of $12 you will experience at least eighteen dollars’ worth of originality, hilarity and downright weirdness. On top of that, you will also acquire around five dollars’ worth of knowledge about celebrities and evolutionary theory.

Bronwyn will tell you that although she and Jose are partners, she is looking for a celebrity husband or wife who will make her seem a little bit cooler, and who will feel comfortable hanging out with her at the Avondale Bowling Club. Jose is nobly supportive of her goal.  

After encouraging you to assess your own celebrity crush for viability, Bronwyn will ask you to help her narrow down her celebrity mate options. Jose will assess the pros and cons of the short-listed celebrities, and you will help select the three finalists by blowing your party horn. 

The top three celebrities will then appear live on stage! They may include Slash, David Byrne (Talking Heads), and maybe some other person you haven’t really heard of before.

Slash, David and the other guy will then vie for Bronwyn’s affection by answering questions… all while Bronwyn is hidden from them by the heart of mystery! 

By the time you have to vote for the winning husband / wife, you may be laughing too hard to blow your party horn.

When you leave you will be $11 up on your investment ($11.50 if you stash the party horn in your handbag), and you will also have a good understanding of whether or not your celebrity crush will fall in love with you, should you meet.

My Celebrity Husbands and Maybe Some Wives is exactly the kind of show people go to fringe festivals to experience: nutty, good-value fun.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer