The Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival has not long kicked off for 2020, and one of the impressive changes to its feel this year is the inclusion of a number of comedy shows – not all just your bog standard stand-up either. 

Harkness Henry’s Emporium of Scintillating Wonders (the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion has had a makeover) is filling quickly for this one-night performance of Two Hearts. The show is the brainchild of millennial comedy wunderkinds Joseph Moore (Funny Girls, 7Days, Jono and Ben) and his real-life partner Laura Daniel (also of Funny Girls, 7Days, Jono and Ben and of course Dancing With The Stars’ 2019 season runner-up). I would say, from a glance around the room the audience comprises DWTS fans and millennials. Interesting mix, and certainly a challenging blend across demographics if you ask me. 

Having toured the UK, Australia and other parts of New Zealand, Two Hearts is promising “distractingly catchy original music, wildly funny lyrics and frankly too much confetti.” I love all of these things, so am excited for the show to start!

Great set: what looks like a DJ booth with a large television screen either side. The lights go down (as far as they can in a pavilion at 6pm in the summer), the screens rumble to life in an E Channel-esque flashback recap of Two Hearts’ tumultuously successful career, which brings a steady giggle from the crowd. Darryl the fog machine guy wants his money … and his machines, and I think there may have been a slight bungle as the fog he is talking about on telly is patchy at the best (gotta love technology!).

Not that this fazes Laura and Joseph, they make a fist and box on. In fact, they acknowledge it and make light, as they do with the overly light room. What ensues is pure genius: very funny and acerbic social and environmental commentary, delivered with sass and vigorous energy; if these two are cringing over the light and the bung smoke machine they are hiding it superbly well.

Two Hearts romps fast-paced through a playlist of original ‘bangers’ in a zero-sausage show. No holds barred: love at the battery hen farm, climate change, a slutty ghost, a tribute to boomers and a great take on that time of the month. Blisteringly funny from start to finish, and so bloody well written!

And then there are the costumes. Whoever is on the needle for this duo certainly knows how to dress performers – the design and construction shows a depth of thought for the sentiment of the piece, with a sensitive consideration for the short costume-change timeframes a 65-minute show has, when there are only two performers to fill the stage. Crafty and very cool.

When I say “two performers” I am omitting the very talented Two Hearts dancers, the Two Tarts. So much more than some singing and confetti, the choreography is right on point and a valuable addition to the show. Perhaps Daniel called in a favour from her DWTS cohort of professionals, but I don’t care, I am lost in the show – it’s really bloody good. So good, I can look the other way when Moore falls into the old Kiwi comedian habit of bagging Hamilton.

One thing is for sure, Laura Daniel loves a wind machine, and wow – she can sing (‘O Holy Night’ anyone?), and Joseph Moore, who has done a great job mixing the backing tracks in his bedroom, is also a fantastic rapper. When I look around the room, the pair have us all in the palms of their confetti-filled hands. Even the boomers are chuckling and clapping away at their finale number, taking a heady swipe at that generation.

Throughout the show the writing is sharp, and the lyrics are bang on; it’s just a shame the sound mix is not quite as sharp as it could be, meaning that there are times when tiny portions of lyric are lost behind backing tracks. My only other gripe is the light escaping into the room I would love to see this show again in a properly darkened room to appreciate all of the amazing lighting, dancing, videos and confetti.

The pair have great on-stage chemistry and play off each other seamlessly in a delightful steady flow of banter, each moving from high status to low status with a well-directed ease. I muse to my date that that these two could be our Sonny and Cher, only they’re both much smarter and sassier than the boomers I compare them to.

To be truly epic and praise worthy, musical comedy demands the highest production values and we certainly have it here. A multimedia feast of genre mashup, power ballad-rap caviar hilarity. Bravo and please Two Hearts: more!!! 

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