Simon Ward reviews Dreamweavers at the Free Association

The Free Association is a new comedy club nestling under the Waterloo arches right next to the Union Theatre, adding to the burgeoning list of venues in this corner of south east London. Siblings is the comedy vehicle for real-life sisters Madeline and Marina Bye and they have been touring their latest show, Dreamweavers, around the country and abroad since the end of January prior to not-yet-confirmed Edinburgh dates. For the avoidance of doubt, Edinburgh would be very lucky to have them. This madcap production is full of joy but also so full of downright disgusting no-holds-barred debauchery that it is impossible to resist. And equally impossible to resist is the demand for the audience to participate. Because, of course, if there are dreams to be woven they will have to come from the wayward heads of an audience sucked into a tunnel in the bowels of Southwark. And therefore, our heroines bear no responsibility for the frankly disturbing material that they may end up performing.

The show seems to consist of a pre-determined structure, with requisite props, sound cues and musical instruments to hand, with added improvisation as the mood takes them. They take the improv to absurd lengths, and it’s clear that at times no-one is quite sure how they are going to get to their next scene, but they always make it. The show takes as its theme the ever increasing intrusion of science into our everyday lives, yes, even into the most private of all spaces, our dreams. Madeline plays a scientist who has invented, after many years’ research, a device which can harvest the dreams of anyone using it, and Marina is her work-experience sidekick. Said device, for all the world like a colander with some lights attached, is allocated to audience members in turn for their dreams to be enacted. The classic anxiety dream that this represents – standing on stage with an expectant audience with absolutely no idea what you are supposed to do – is, of course played out to an audience thanking their lucky stars that they were not chosen. But don’t laugh too soon, because they are zealous in maximising participation and your turn will come. Indeed, even if you’ve already been chosen, don’t think that your agony is complete, for there may well be a follow-up.

The two sisters clearly love what they are doing here – Madeline, in particular, is almost constantly on the verge of cracking up – but they take every mishap and ad-lib and run with it so that no comedy seam is left unmined. The more they lean into the absurdity of the setup the funnier it gets, and the final, bonkers exculpatory denouement is utterly joyous. They throw in a couple of genuinely catchy songs and the supporting sound effects team are magnificent. This is pure anarchic silliness alchemically distilled into comedy gold.

Dreamweavers played at the Free Association, 26 Arch Street, London SE1 6AS on Thursday 7th May