Review: All Our Friends are Dead, The Kings Arms, Salford

It’s quite the daunting experience being the only 17-year-old at a pub-theatre. But All Our Friends Are Dead at Salford’s Kings Arms made me realise that I’m just as twisted as everyone else in the audience.

In this sketch, character and musical comedy show directed by Lucia Cox, duo Norris and Parker present crooked characters, a quarter life crisis and songs dripping with satire in a surreal and relentless hour of female comedy.

Our two heroines, head to toe in lycra catsuits, inhabit a bare stage bar a couple of chairs, captivating the audience with the poetic anthem that is the Tw*t song. From there on out, the stage is set for a thrilling evening of delirious sketches and expertly-aimed critique; the sight of David Cameron having his privates scratched by Nick Clegg will forever haunt me.

The formidable pair showed no restraint in the micky-taking of their on-stage personas, or in their cringe-worthy attempts to chat up various men in the audience. Despite this uncomfortable humour, each sketch was packed with witty one-liners and disturbingly familiar characters; from a Northern man with an affinity for mullets and rocking horses to a choir made up entirely of widows, there was no end to the warped minds of this superb double act.

So All Our Friends Are Dead left this underage 17-year-old wanting more. Even with slight technical difficulties, the pair’s talent and audience engagement right from the word tw*t kept my sides in a constant split. I cannot recommend the comedy duo highly enough, and for those heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival who are in need of something dark and deliciously twisted, keep a look out for these hilariously inappropriate performers.

By Emily Cox