EVITA TOO ****

What would you rather see? Sh!t Theatre explaining their (to be fair fascinating) moral processes through their research of the now forgotten Isabel Peron — historiographies, methodologies, all neatly made in PowerPoints and flowcharts. Or: would you rather see a projection of Andrew Lloyd Webber DJ–ing and Sh!t Theatre rollerskating around Zoo Southside's main space naked?

The choice is left up to us — a sort of exploration or maybe validation of concept around populism. You can guess what the audience picked. This sort of playfulness is what carries EVITA TOO through a wonderful, inventive seventy-five minutes. 

It's not really about Evita – it mostly follows Sh!t Theatre's investigation of Juan Peron's other wife, the lesser known Isabel Peron. She was the first female president in world history. She is also, shockingly, not very well known. One of the kookiest moments in the whole play is Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole showing an Argentinian waitress an image of Peron and the waitress having no clue who she is, or that she even existed. 

The question the show raises is, 'what does it take for a woman to be remembered?'. Here's a woman that laid the body of Evita Peron on her dining room table, was exiled, returned and exiled again, got overthrown in a military coup after giving too much power to a guy they literally called "The Wizard" (El Brujo) after she became the first female president in the history of the world and she's not as recognised as the subject of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's hit musical. It's ripe material for a documentary piece of theatre and Biscuit and Mothersole relish in it. Theirs is a playful hour full of puppets, films and archives which defy belief. They spoof tidbits in the shape of huge hands they sit on, they remember their actions by wearing these ridiculous duck outfits – these are two fringe artists at the top of their game and always super playful to boot. 

Another clever element to it is how much it spoofs and plays with the notion of musical — it does so with a real love of the form, and lampoons Lloyd Webber in my opinion, extremely appropriately. They apparently got a legal threat in a preview — that's stuck on the wall for the audience to laugh at during an interlude. The songs are really nicely written though, and drive the play's form forward. It's in its own right a wonderfully Fringe musical, whilst never compromising on its experimental humour and its cerebral aspects. The idea, for example, that Isabel Peron was incarcerated close to early human handprints in a cave, is moving and ties the themes of legacy and remembrance into a wider conversation about all of human history. 

At seventy-five minutes, it was maybe a tad overlong — a set change, for example, whilst a step for the company, didn't really need to happen and this could have shaved off a few minutes. Also - for the length of time, there is clearly more research that I would have genuinely appreciated hearing. Here, the formally playful bits and the jokes take the focus. 

But as a whole product, this is very, very, good. Sh!t Theatre are a proper Fringe company — playful, cerebral and dare I say populist. This is a rollickingly good night out for all the family, never dumb, never pretentious and asking some important questions in ways sure to put a smile on your face. 

Zoo Southside until 30^th August.