Mr Sister. Lion and Unicorn Theatre.

Over recent months comedy duo and sororal soulmates Brooke Jones and Holly Kellingray have garnered some 40,000 followers and 1.3 million likes for their TikTok video skits. In Mr Sister, currently running as work-in-progress at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, the double act brings their blend of quirky sketch and character-driven humour to the stage. Although the show sometimes feels a little rough around the edges, the result is a pleasingly eccentric hour of off-beat charm delivered by two engaging and gifted comic actors.

The show’s best sketch features two implausibly posh girls delivering a fresher’s university lecture on how to drink wine. Choosing between the booby-shaped and the willy-shaped glass is one of the subjects covered, and it is fair to say you should anticipate a fulsome parade of dick and pooh jokes throughout Mr Sister. The two aspiring sommeliers give a nifty set of instructions on how to simultaneously flirt with and insult fellow patrons and on what to do if you spill your drink – lick it up from the bar top of course, as “spillage is still liquage”.  Very funny too is the sketch featuring two accountants on a blind date at the flashy Nuit De Sex restaurant, a locale that is so dimly lit it is impossible to see each other let alone the menu or waiter. The characters Nifty and NooNoo parody the worst of TV moneysaving show-hosts, with a tip for saving cash on cooking pasta that involves popping it in your mouth for two hours to soften it up.  Linda and Helenda, two teenage American high-school girls who offer ever more extreme sexual favours in return for Prom Queen votes, raise a chuckle or two.

What connects all these sketches, loosely is has to be said, are the vows Jones and Kellingray made to each other as university pals. Essentially these boil down to a series of nine pledges or “sisterly rules” that lay out how to be platonic best friends for ever. The vows seem to have worked, because there is a palpable comic chemistry between the two that brings to mind early French and Saunders. There is self-assurance in the writing here as well – the duo take a vape-break mid-show to reflect out loud on what the audience thinks of them, and their conclusions are wryly on-point. The final, over-long gender-reveal skit fails to ignite, but still brings the show’s best and most memorable line.

Writers: Brooke Jones and Holly Kellingray

Director: Will Stanley