Wife Material
Mambo Italiano
Wife Material
by Heleana and Sophia Blackwell
Heleana and Sophia Blackwell at The Camden People’s Theatre until 19th August
Review by Heather Moulson
Dressed in vintage glamour, married couple Sophia and Heleana shoot straight from the hip. Anyone expecting a cosy ideal of marriage are soon brought up short, as we are drawn into niggles, bad habits, duvet covers and lockdown. Both skilfully draw on their Italian and West Indian roots, with hilarious results, in their slickly devised show, sharply directed by multi-award winning comedian Maria Shehata.
Blushing scarlet to how close to home their material is, we follow the path of endless cousin’s weddings, and the stress of choosing their dresses for their own.
There are also date disasters, crass declarations and the often painful journey of finding each other. Drawing energy from the audience, this is funny, refreshing, relevant, and accessible.
The pair manoeuvred swift transitions between comedy, poetry and song. Stand-up comedian Heleana highlighted her mother’s warnings, set to reggae music, and kept the room captivated with laughter. Poet Sophia’s past loves evolved some poignantly strong pieces that stayed with us. Profound, moving, hilarious, eccentric and never smug. This was an hour of joy.
Heather Moulson, August 2023
Photography courtesy of HSB
Mark Aspen 