Cathleen Carr and Daiva Deupree met years ago through Improv Asylum, and they’ve returned to Boston and IA with a limited engagement show of their own that deserves your attention. Their aptly-named "Two Girls For Five Bucks" began its run Oct. 5 and continues at 10 p.m. Thursdays through Nov. 9.
They begin simply enough, sitting next to each other, facing the audience and describing what they’ve learned about love from their parents. Whether true or not, it’s no matter. They ably set up the rest of the show through this opening confessional, playing off of each other throughout various sketches about love and relationships, with Deupree’s characters invariably wilder and carrying more psychological and emotional baggage. The show has nice pacing, building throughout Act One to a winning Platoon climax. And their chemistry is great. Whether they’re acting out awkward conversations with ex-boyfriends or imagining the scenario for loooonely war brides in WWII, these two know how to co-exist in a scene, allowing Carr and Deupree to shine equally. Many duos don’t sustain such balance, instead prompting you to wish you could see one more than the other.
Both Carr and Deupree commit to their characters and scenes with such abandon that you willingly go along with them for the ride. A recurring skit about two wholly inappropriate employees from Human Resources gets progressively crazier, to good effect. A couple of "silent" scenes show they can generate laughs without getting too chatty, although when they do let loose, their personal stories about their first sexual experiences and their lack of magical expertise are both humorous and heartfelt. It’s all thoroughly enjoyable.
Related: Become their friends on MySpace