Comedy cabaret legends Frisky and Mannish once again take to the stage to flirt with copyright infringement in a new and exciting hybrid format. Ever defying easy categorisation, the duo describe their latest show, presented in association with the Lawrence Batley Theatre, as “part-movie, part-live show, part-parody, part-love letter to cinema.”

Popcorn folds layers of film references into Frisky and Mannish’s usual pop-meets-musical theatre comedy cabaret format to create a delightfully esoteric tour through highlights of Hollywood history including Singin’ In the Rain, Mrs Doubtfire and Bridesmaids.

To quote Mean Girls (which has its own featured tribute), “the limit does not exist” in terms of Frisky and Mannish’s scope. They will find the musical comedy potential in any given film. A weird and wonderful highlight is Frisky’s rousing summary of the plot of Inception to the tune of ‘I Dreamed A Dream!’

The recorded stage performance is interspersed with a series of bizarre cutaway scenes that roughly stitch together a careering overarching narrative, that culminates in a joyously overwrought action sequence. The joy of cabaret is its defiance of set structure and rules, and Popcorn abuses this license wholeheartedly by chaotically and erratically jumping across genres, time periods, styles and characters.

Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones’s script is crammed with jokes and makes the phrase “a laugh a minute” seem stingy - chuckle too heartily at a throwaway line and you might miss two or three other gags. This pair can sell any of their bizarre and absurd musical concepts purely through the flair of their performance and their staggering musical prowess. The energy of this elastic-faced and velvet-voiced pair is certainly unmatched in any other musical comedy act we’ve witnessed.

Special mention deserves to go to Richard Hand, who triumphantly and hilariously guest stars as Max the Producer, perhaps even deserving the honorary title of the ‘and’ of the eponymous act.

A significant proportion of the allure of a Frisky and Mannish show is the outlandish, camp styling and lighting designers Baz Hilton and Jonathan Hudson deserve a round of applause of their own for showcasing Corcoran and Floyd Jones in their best light.

Kingsley Hall’s stage costumes are simply gorgeous, in a colour palette that perfectly complements Frisky’s iconic red wig.

It looks like it was a lockdown well spent for Corcoran and Floyd Jones. Popcorn is a high-camp romp and an absolute riot that sets the bar for hybrid comedy productions punishingly high.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

Frisky & Mannish: Popcorn runs online until Sunday 14 November, with tickets available here.