Two Girls One Gun (TGOG) is a cheerfully low-budget comedic take on the modern spy thriller movie, delivered with gusto and good humour. The script stays in touch with its parent genre, giving us spies, a stolen drive, an exotic location, panicky instructions delivered via headset to agents in the field, and a song about spying.

This is all fun, but what sets this production apart for me is the quickfire and spontaneous-seeming backchat between its two characters.

The publicity material gives us all we need to know about the plot. There’s this recently demoted MI6 agent, Vaja Steele (Phoebe Caldeiro) who comes up against Russian operative Titsa Dynamite (Nina Hogg) – BTW, the made-up names are a good key to TGOG’s general tone. Anyway, Steele and Dynamite end up trying to track down the previously mentioned stolen drive, and adventures follow.

None of this has to be taken too seriously, although the play does a suitable job of balancing out-and-out spoof with actual suspense and onstage violence. There are multiple references to, and borrowings from, TGOG’s many antecedents, including James Bond and any recent Tom Cruise mega blockbuster hit movie. I suspect Melissa McCarthy’s Spy might be a seminal influence, but could be wrong.

The production’s attitude towards its source material may be light-hearted, but there’s nothing frivolous about the fight scenes (choreographed by Hogg; fight and stunt coaches Carrie Thiel and Simon Mann). These are as vigorous as I’ve seen on stage. They include a stunt so terrifying, I’m surprised they thought of it and amazed that they went ahead and performed it.

The edgy, sexually charged relationship between Steele and Dynamite is pretty much textbook, but both characters seem to be constantly taken by surprise by the other’s highly personal verbal assaults. It’s almost as if Caldeiro and Hogg have saved up a bunch of zingers to slip into the script on the final night. I find the resulting banter fresh and funny, easily the highlight of the performance.

Another attractive feature of the production is the way the two actors break through the fourth wall and/or address the audience. It needs a good level of confidence and quick wittedness to carry this off, qualities Caldeiro and Hogg have in bucketloads.

Hogg mentions at the close that they’ve been working on this production for a year and a half, and it shows onstage in the excellent rapport between the two actors. It’s a great onstage relationship to watch, as they swiftly turn every opportunity to advantage.

The onstage action is well supported by the creative lighting effects (Scott Maxim) and by the sound design and delivery (Victoria Norgrove). Some of the voiced-over material is lost somewhere in the space between the speakers and my ears. This could be a technical thing, or maybe I need to get my ears tested.

A special mention to the person (maybe stage manager Kelly Mui?) who helped out with the scene-shifting, and brought a pleasant touch of personality to this mundane but necessary task.

Okay, Tom Cruise, the ball is now officially in your court – see if you can do better (on TGOG’s budget).

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