by ⭐⭐⭐½
What happened to the double act? Doesn’t anyone want to be friends?
Those are the questions double act Soft Play (Maria Telnikoff and Vidya Divakaran) ask and answer in this debut hour jumping across, around and at their audiences this month in Edinburgh. Some duos they portray are legendary (Remus and Romulus), some iconic (Bert and Ernie, Wham!), some obligatory (Laurel and Hardy), some lampooned for a new generation (Bend It Like Beckham, Of Mice and Men‘s Lennie and George on Brokeback Mountain, The X-Factor‘s Ant and Seb), while still others form duos out of things you knew were coupled but perhaps never thought of that way before.
Sometimes it comes off chaotically in the best way. A few times it just reads messy.
You cannot deny they’re having a blast. Even if, like in most double acts, there’s a disturbance imbalance in who gets which parts to play. Thankfully, though, they’re both stars in their own right. And they shine brightly together, too.
Just the Two Of Us! plays Pleasance Cellar through Aug. 24, 2025.
