BRIGHTON FRINGE REVIEW: Lionel and Cindy

Drag performer Ava Cardo (aka Jack O’Neill) and actor Char Brockes have created a marvellously crazy interlude, almost entirely in mime and lip sync about the wooing, wedding and break-up of very tall Cindy and very small Lionel.

Using drag, silent film comedy, slapstick and burlesque techniques, Cindy in her polka dot dress, red high heels and even higher blonde wig is a strange match for the diminutive Lionel, in his suit, bow tie, curly black wig and enormous moustache.

And Ava and Char use every opportunity to get humour out of the height difference, but there’s a layer of sadness and longing in their characterisations of what is clearly a true-love relationship. There’s also a good deal of innuendo suggested, and heightened by a kind of bonkers rhyming recorded narrative, so Cindy the Vegan is partial to cucumbers , eating one with erotic delight. There are references to mayo, that I can’t describe and even a baby for Cindy which turns out to be a cream cake, tragically and irrevocably dropped on the stage.

When they part company Lionel settles for a new love at the cake shop – a baguette – again with erotic undertones but a lot of laughs too. And did I mention the lady cow they kill in a car accident? Best not to. In the end true love runs smooth again and Lionel and Cindy dance off to our rapturous applause. A fun 45 minutes.

Lionel and Cindy was at the Rotunda in Regency Square as part of Brighton Fringe.

Tickets for other shows at brightonfringe.org