Doom and Bloom (Brendan ‘Monty’ West and Ben Zolno) clearly have a following. They’re premiering their new show Mirage at Bats Heyday Dome for a packed house. These two are improvisers – Doom’s a Kiwi thespian and Bloom hails from Chicago. It’s perhaps a bizarre coupling but then so’s the show.

They begin by asking us to provide an answer to the question: “What is it in society that appears to be something but is actually something else”. No one is scratching their head – except me.  

“Schools,” offers my neighbour. I always love this moment in improvised work, when the actors hear a word and let it sink (or is it rise?) to the level at which they can use it to launch a dialogue.

And they do. We get a conversation between a senior teacher and a student – and I get the impression I’m witnessing a formula: a dominant character versus a weaker one. Formula aside, it makes for highly entertaining verbal twists and turns. And succeeds in taking the piss out of a relationship that can be fraught.

From this launch point, Doom and Bloom go on to give us a series of conversations based loosely – well very loosely, but who cares – on their theme. Especially delightful is the exchange between a heterosexual couple about their new downsized dwelling; and a discussion of a novel theatre experience, where everyone could be Hamlet. 

A young woman in the row in front of me says as well as being a fan herself, so is her grandmother! I think that’s a pretty good recommendation for a show that at no time depends on cheap jibes or vulgarity, and instead makes its mark by being entertaining and relevant. 

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