Pussy
The Phoenix Artist Club
28th July 2014

★★★☆☆

It's a little shame that Burning Oak Theatre's Pussy has been unleashed on the public in the same week that saw the BBC launch the Vodka Diaries on iPlayer. Both involve four slightly useless 20-something women sharing a flat. Both, largely, have the girls following certain archetypes - the weird one, the bossy one, etc. Both have the landlord coming round and the need for a pretty sharpish spring clean. One actually is a sitcom pilot and the other could very easily pass as one. Unfortunately, one is distinctly more amusing than the other, and I suspect you can guess from my tone which one.

That's not to write off Pussy completely. It may be derivative in places - see French and Saunders' (mostly forgotten) 80s sitcom Girls on Top for the beginnings of the formula - but it has enough of its own voice to justify itself.

The plot sees our quartet of girls - Lula (Kirsten Callaghan), Lucy (Emma Tansley), Laurie (Bethan Thomas) and Sophie (Emma James) reeling after a Breakast at Tiffany's themed party and the discovery of Lucy's dad's dead cat. Again, this set-up could be any sitcom, any time. But what elevates it into the realms of fantasy - and above its generic sitcom trappings - is Lula's very personal connection to the deceased Pussy (Chloe Levis), a heavily-accented New York cat. Because Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The theme, then, is one of escapism in every way. Our four characters are stunted, living a student lifestyle despite seemingly not being students any more. Lula literally escapes into her fantasy world inhabited by Pussy, while the others simply shirk responsibility, culminating in an abrupt ending in which they take this to the ultimate extreme.

Of the broad-strokes characters, it's Callaghan's Lula who really steals the show, as most loveable idiots seem to do. She gets a lot of writer Thomas Clancy's best lines and with Callaghan's spaced-out delivery, she makes even the smallest gag, such as a running joke about her not wearing a watch, into something special. Her meta interactions with the Levis' straight-talking cat are another highlight, with good interplay between the two. The other characters are less defined, but that seems to be the fault of the writing rather than the performances.

Director Julian Jones makes a lot of the same choices we've seen time and again, with the girls' flat strewn with pizza boxes, condom wrappers and Disarono bottles. But he keeps the pace snappy and his tried-and-true method is no bad thing. The only time the piece does flag is during a short musical interlude during which the cast clean the stage. Spraying the audience with cleaning products wears thin after a while, if it was ever amusing to begin with. The final song medley, on the other hand, is very funny indeed and I have to applaud anyone who uses Kate Bush in any play.

It may seem like I'm largely damning Pussy with faint praise, and perhaps that's true. But there were laughs to be had and as light and fluffy throwaway theatre goes, it's certainly inoffensive and a diverting way to spend an hour. I would welcome a return for the foursome, and Clancy clearly does have talent, but his writing needs to be somewhat sharper. At the moment, we have Deep Blue Something's Breakfast at Tiffany's - enjoyable enough if a little safe - yet I have no doubt that if pushed everyone involved could make it the Blake Edwards classic.

Pussy opened on 28th July and runs until 6th August 2014, as part of the Camden Fringe.

Nearest tube station: Tottenham Court Road (Northern, Central)