Disclaimer: I love playful, childish silliness and physical comedy! Even more than that, I love seeing kids in theatres enjoying this kind of fun with adults ‘guiltily’ loving it too (possibly even more than the kids, because face it, secretly we all wish we were children again and didn’t feel apologetic for enjoying silly jokes!).  

Spray and Wipe (Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman) are a likeable clowning duo bringing some ‘messy magic’ around NZ with a fun and energetic show – part magic, part slapstick, with a little bit of salt (or not so little salt) thrown in.

The show reminds me of the joyful touring shows I saw in school halls in my youth, with the low-fi set of screens, sheets and tables disguising various props (and of course, food products).

The premise revolves around ‘And Wi’s surprise party. Unfortunately, no one on-or-off stage has any idea who ‘AndWi’ is, or when they are arriving… Spray and Wipe are early for the party, and of course manage to completely trash the place before AndWi even arrives. Eek! There are fun little balloon and streamer tricks (which have my 5 year old daughter marvelling :How did they do that!” while my sister and I pass knowing ‘that’s cute’ looks at each other), and of course, there is the inevitable destruction of the cake. 

To save the day, Spray and Wipe need some help! They ask the audience, “How can we replace the cake, what can we do?” The answers at this particular performance, in order, and verbatim, are “vacuum it”, “call a cow” and “put it on your head”… You can’t write that stuff, it makes me snort with delight! A few of the older kids come to the rescue with the suggestion to make a new one and the inevitable cake-making hilarity ensues.

The show is packed full of all the food and kitchen gags you might expect, with a few clever ones thrown in. The magic tricks are mostly simple, but well-pitched to the audience age group. My particular silly pleasures are the gags about separating the eggs and whipping the butter, the sieve fly and the sneaker juice operation. The final cake mix is also interesting! My daughter loves the ingredients they use.

Sensible ‘Spray’ and childish (zanni-esque) ‘Wipe’ gleefully play through the very physical slapstick choreography with enthusiasm (and chirpy voices). While a few of the routines fall a little flat, most are delivered with gusto, and the kids in the audience, ranging from around 3 – 10 or so, were thoroughly glued to the action on stage.

Wipe does most of the audience interaction, with some well-practiced improv dealing with reluctant adults. I have to say, picking on adults to make fools of themselves early in the show is a clever move – kids love it, as do the (other) parents. One man who is selected to show his ‘party face’, tries to offer up his child instead! Ha, no such luck my friend!

To play the critic, I did feel I wanted more chaos and more mess! They feel too clean at the end, as does the audience. The theatre feels too big for the show, and being separated from the stage takes away from the messy component. I’d prefer this in a hall or a smaller venue, for the audience to feel closer to the action. Also, I don’t know if this is a ‘back in my day’ moment, but why not let people know they can get messy and go for gold! Ditch the plastic protective sheet! The extra tickets you’d sell would surely cover the cleaning bill…?

Regardless of my little nit-picks, I felt really happy walking away, and more importantly, my daughter and 7 year old niece had an awesome time.

A great school holiday outing for your little ones. So well-priced and super fun. Take your kids and enjoy the cheese (and cake)! 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

Transformed from Rollicking Entertainment’s evening show (Seven Deadly Stunts), Circa Two is almost all set for a party – and so is the audience, eager for the follow-up to last year’s riotous Messy Magic Adventure. A sign at the back proclaims “Surprise And Wi” – and we have yet to discover who And Wi is.

Spray and Wipe (Lizzie Tollemache and David Ladderman) arrive all wrapped up with two ways to go: a clever device for placing a long piece of plastic sheeting in front of the front row, hinting at what is to come. Then they depart – only to return with their invitation to the party.

In the process of completing the preparations, they fulfil the dual promise of their generic title: mess and magic. And being clowns who by their very nature keep messing things up, most of the magic seems to happen in spite of them.

I mean it’s fun to inflate, pop, rip and mangle a balloon, right? But what’s this? The balloons are suddenly whole again! And who knew Spray’s intestines were just waiting to become streamers?

Spray gets bossy when Wipe misbehaves and when the birthday cake goes from being idolised in balletic dance to sat-upon, she declares Wipe’s punishment is to drink Sneaker Juice. Oh the horror as the rancid liquid appears, and the empathy as he suffers each sip – and oh the hilarity when it foments loud burps!

The important thing now is to make a new cake – but how? Fortunately eagle-eyed children have seem the Cook Book, which turns out to have a voice of its own, and a name: Edmond (what else?). Sound and lights operator Amber Molloy plays her parts with impeccable timing.

The clothing, utensils and ingredients required to make the cake afford endless opportunities for comedy, slapstick and more magic. The science of flour-and-water paste even features to make the innocent high-five a trap. And so it all escalates into the actions which ramp up the messiness factor to the extreme that reveals the need for the aforementioned plastic sheet.

Our five and six year-old companions are riveted, delighted, excited and highly amused. We’ll just have to distract them from any desire to play in the kitchen. As for the clean-up job we leave behind as we happily leave the theatre – let’s hope David and Lizzie mean it when they say they love cleaning up as much as making a mess. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer