One woman is a kleptomaniac who awoke to see her lawyer husband in bed next to her doing the horizontal rumba with a stranger. Another is an orphan and inveterate liar who lived with and was carer to her recently deceased grandmother. Then nanna died and she was left penniless. Both are friendless loners. Both like food, particularly sauce. Unexpectedly, they connect at a militant slimming group in church. That is the starting point for an outrageous two-handed comedy by Irish playwright Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, first produced during the 2019 Dublin Fringe Festival. She has crafted a work with twists that is deliciously inappropriate.
Mella is left high and dry after her nanna passes away and her uncle Paddy inherits the apartment where she lived. He has no compunction about turfing her out. Money isn’t an issue for Maura, who works part time in a newsagency and can’t kick her habit of stealing stuff. As revenge, she is fat shamed by her successful, unfaithful husband. After Mella meets Maura and finds out she is hardly skint, Mella hatches a plan to scam Maura, only matters take a turn when the pair finds common ground.
It takes dexterity to make a bawdy and bodacious play like SAUCE work and Ashleigh Butler and Claire Imlach have that in spades. In fact, they don’t miss a beat in assuming over a dozen characters between them in the fast paced, outrageous piece. They interact and bounce off each other with aplomb, changing tack effortlessly. They prance about the stage, pout and pontificate, ensuring they hold our attention throughout.
Ashleigh fills the role of Mella. She is also Mella’s solicitor, several characters at the weight loss organisation Fat Watch, a gossip who works alongside Maura and a fish and chip shop owner. Claire is Maura, Maura’s husband and the woman her husband has sex with. She also plays Mella’s uncle Paddy, Fat Watch characters and a priest. Director Christopher Samuel Carroll (I Have No Enemies at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) ensures the momentum inherent in the piece is maintained. Infused with an undercurrent of sadness, SAUCE is also rude, crude and engaging.
With a running time of 60 minutes, it is on at The Butterfly Club until 21st December, 2024.
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- 80 Minutes No Interval (Theatre Works) – theatre review
- Shakespeare in Love (MTC) – theatre review
- Silly Little Things (The Butterfly Club) – theatre review
Alex First is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.
