Stage: The winner takes it all

Miss Brexit
directors Alejandro Postigo & Amaia Mugica
composer Harvey Cartlidge & Tom Cagnoni
with George Berry, Shivone Dominguez Blascikova, Ricardo Ferreira, Maxence Marmy, Isabel Mulas, Alba Villaitodo
Omnibus Theatre, Clapham • 11-15.Feb.25 ★★★★

Developed through improvisation by a group of immigrants in London, this smart, riotous comedy carries a strong thematic kick in its knowing observations and sharp-edged humour. It's also strikingly well-staged, with terrific songs by Harvey Cartlidge and Tom Cagnoni, colourful choreography and amusingly scene-stealing performances from an up-for-it cast. As the performers explore the immigrant experience with broad humour and pointed insight, it's the deeper ideas that resonate. Which makes this a scrappy gem of a show.

The six performers bound into the empty theatre space, which is brightened up by coloured lights and a big screen with helpful projections, including national flags, backdrops, subtitles and song lyrics. Dressed in shiny swimsuits are contestants from Spain/Slovakia (Dominguez Blascikova), Portugal (Ferreira), Switzerland (Marmy), Italy (Mulas) and Catalonia (Villaitodo). And the perky MC (Berry) informs us that, thanks to Brexit, only one of them will win a visa to remain in the UK, and it's up to the audience to choose.

What follows is a series of battles, as these divas get a chance to dress in their national outfits and deliver their personal sob stories to win the audience's sympathies. They are eliminated one by one until only the winner remains. And there's a lot of fun to be had along the way, with a series of raucous musical numbers, audience interaction and full-on comedy schtick, all expertly performed by the superb cast. And the way the show continually deploys and subverts cliches and archetypes is fiendishly clever. The comments about British culture are both lacerating and hilarious.

Each of the performers shines in his or her own way. Berry holds the centre with a cheeky, sometimes gleefully evil grin, skilfully deploying his hunky physicality and lightning-quick wit. Around him, the contestants are all hugely engaging, each finding funny gags in the continually gyrating scenes. Standouts are Ferreira's cross-dressing Miss Portugal, whose puppy-dog earnestness combines with a wicked seductive streak, and the outrageously funny Villaitodo, who walks off with the show as the diminutive, almost terrifyingly feisty Miss Catalonia.

All of this sometimes feels like a group of young people making up a show as they go, playfully swapping costumes and props to add terrific details while deploying a brisk sense of improv-style timing. So the jokes frequently catch us (and them) by surprise, eliciting a continual stream of laughter and applause. And the way all of this is deepened with genuine emotion, which comes from the performers' own stories, allows the show to offer both witty observations about Britain and the importance of creating your own tribe, wherever you find yourself.

For more, MISS BREXIT > 

photos by Jake Bush & Hana Ptáčková • 12.Feb.25