Titty Bar Ha Ha: Comedy Festival Review

Titty Bar Ha Ha: Comedy Festival Review

Cabaret and late night with a title like this could suggest only one thing.

Smut and plenty of it.

Except to say that Titty Bar Ha Ha is not quite the balls and all rude ribaldry that you might perhaps be expecting. Set in a 1943 England, it's the time of Hope and Gloria, two burlesquely clad girls, working to make an honest living as the planes fly over above them.

There's a dead ex under the floorboards and the authorities are closing in but it doesn't stop Hope and Gloria from having a good time - and what pairs of lungs these girls have got. (Easy at the back there)

There's plenty of singing, dancing and a lot of audience interaction in this piece which is a real late night treat. With more innuendo and double entendre than outright smut (although buppetry provides the obligatory XXX treat at the end of the show), Titty Bar Ha Ha is actually a damn good night out - and not in a completely dirty mac at the back kind of way.

With some deftly clever lyrics and some brilliant rhyming couplets, the duo weave a bloody good night out. Sure there's innuendo - "He was prone to come but not stay" being one of the cleaner moments, but there's also a great gathering of songs, fizzing audience participation and ribaldry as it plays out over its 60 minutes running time. A mash up of Tainted Love, some games involving coke and a fizzy sweet, training in burlesque dancing and a chance to get up on stage proves the entire thing is nothing short of pure wartime entertainment.

Both Hope and Gloria have amazing voices and the way they seamlessly riff on some stories of abuse and cheated upon girls in the wartime world certainly resonates here and there - but overall, this cabaret is well worth staying up late for and making sure you catch it in its last week at the festival.