The Dirty Thirty review, Rosemary Branch

What is a play? I only ask because The Dirty Thirty's conceit is that its exuberant cast will perform thirty plays in sixty minutes. On the night I was watching, they pulled it off, and a lot of fun was to be had in the race against the clock. What's clear, however, is that they don't need to pull it off, and that's part of the fun, as is what fact that we're really watching is not a series of plays but a revue with an inventive mix of sketches from drama to slapstick. Perfect for Christmas.

The Dirty Thirty is the work of Degenerate Fox, an ensemble that has taken root at The Rosemary Branch and which regularly updates and changes the repertoire so what is seen once is not necessarily seen again. For each show, between four and seven performers (they are seeking more and an appeal for new actors is made at the end of the show) pin the numbers 1-30 on a washing line across the stage. The audience has a list of titles to which the numbers correspond. They shout out the order in which they'd like the pieces performed. As the stage randomly gets spattered with gunge, liquid, and detritus, the space distorts and subsequent performances are impacted. It's great fun...

The changing nature of The Dirty Thirty means no two performances have the same titles and each evening is complete in itself. There were a couple of sketches that were so wonderful, one involving a reggae beat and the other the sexualisation of hot yoga, that I hope are never dropped because they were classics. All the skits on the night we went - which ranged from period drama to singing - were consistently entertaining even when they weren't hitting all the markers.

In conclusion: It's lovely to see a young company creating a sustainable concept. The Dirty Thirty airs twice a month with new content. It could do with a tighter intro and it should lose the throw-out for new performers, which is too am-dram for what, at a mere £10 a ticket, is a promising, well-polished, night out.


The Rosemary Branch, Shepperton Road, London N1.  Performances twice monthly.