Wau Wau Sisters Review, West Yorkshire Playhouse

“People ask us if we’re gay....but I say I don’t think so if we’re related."

That’s according to Tanya Wau Wau, one half of the most fucked up country duo you ever did see in West Yorkshire.

Two hapless men are dragged onstage, and before they know are suddenly dressed as cowgirls as the Waus swap costumes to play with gender roles."

You won’t be surprised to discover Tanya and Ardienne - aka the Wau Wau Sisters - aren’t afraid to be provocative, but it’s not just tiresome shock tactics to get a cheap laugh as the Playhouse‘s challenging Transform season came to an end.

Mind you, their opening onslaught on Catholicism makes Frank Zappa look a Papal envoy.

Their affectionate but filthy parody of country music is done with great warmth and wit designed to get the audience on side…and that’s critical as the decent-sized crowd is the third player in this clever mix of smut and physical comedy.

The one thing you notice about the Wau Wau Sisters is how ripped they are compared to the pasty luvvies who often play here, and it soon becomes clear why when Adrienne delivers one of her ditties balanced on her partner's hands and feet,

Two hapless men are dragged onstage, and before they know are suddenly dressed as cowgirls as the Waus swap costumes to play with gender roles. They are then forced to balance on the sisters, who hold them before a cute cowgirl kiss…it’s that kind of show.

The climax of the show involves Tanya and Adrienne performing a complete costume change in the audience to the Benny Hill theme before joining two half-naked men dressed as satyrs who have appeared on stage.

Then it gets really weird as the sisters perform a tribute to Hair - channelled through Aleister Crowley - before holding up the satyrs for a beardy kiss. Adrienne drew the short straw as one the satyrs was on the bigger side, but her leg muscles held up to the challenge.

But then a horizontal bar drops down and the sisters are on it to the manor born, as these highly-trained performers undertake a dazzling acrobatic routine high in the air, complete with intricate movements and a staggering series of rotations that left me dizzy at ground level.

The show closed with the Wau Waus recreating the Last Supper complete with satyrs, transvestites and random audience members who were all smiling fit to burst. Oh, and the sisters are stark naked, which might sound gratuitous but actually feels right as they had really bared themselves to us.

Now, I know some theatre purists will protest it isn’t real theatre dahling, but you see loads of physical comedy in the Bard’s work…the difference is the Wau Wau Sisters are funny.

Bottom line (pun very much intended); Transform are to be congratulated for booking the utterly fearless - in every sense - Wau Wau Sisters, who dragged their audience into their twisted and hilarious world. This was a world class show that really brought the Courtyard Theatre to life so more of the same please..and soon.