(Brighton &) Hove Grown 2026
Game of Crones
A&E Comedy
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Clown, Comedy, Feminist Theatre
Venue: Connaught Theatre Worthing
Festival: (Brighton &) Hove Grown, FringeReview UK
Low Down
It’s rather fitting that in the year clown maestro Philippe Gaulier crosses over to wherever, the two well-trained idiots of A&E Comedy arrive to champion his legacy, bringing joy and insight through gloriously entertaining silliness.
On tour nationally to 10 April, Game of Crones is clever, funny, female comedy-drama that packs a steel-toed kick. It updates 2018 hit show Enter The Dragons with some wilder characters, stranger costumes and great new songs whilst retaining its enjoyable meta-theatrical jousting. Firmly underwired and totally uplifting.
Photo by Paul Winter
Review
The seemingly unstoppable megawatt comedic talents Abigail Dooley & Emma Edwards (A&E) follow last year’s Edinburgh Fringe cabaret sensation Do All The Things with a re-boot of 2018 hit Enter The Dragons.
This was the show that brought them to prominence as makers of clever, funny, female comedy drama that packs a steel-toed kick. Now they’re scratching a seven-year itch and bringing fresh adventures to their ridiculous quest to stop the ageing process. They are older, but are they wiser? Will they cross the river of destiny, scale the heights of humiliation and avoid drowning in the sea of apology?
Once again aided by Kathy Burke, Dolly Parton and Vivienne Westwood (Style Icon) as a three headed puppet, uncannily voiced by Edwards, and armed with useful tools they set off, pitching their wits and bits against mighty Cronos, god of time.
Like the best comedy duos Dooley and Edwards have fun with their onstage personas, relentlessly teasing, wrong-footing and goading each other. Equally strong in performance and able to hold a big stage, Dooley’s mimed interpretation of clever narration is a nuanced delight. Edwards has a disarming ability to be naturally herself, when not in character as a slimy-tailed seller of cosmetic potions, an armoured protagonist or a four-legged ‘seer’ to name a few of the many roles they both adopt. The new wise women are wonderfully brash, Dooley recently ‘queen of meats’ at Aldi, Edwards with a birds nest in her towering barnet. Tom Penn provides great tunes for additional songs – the quick-fire lyrics hard to follow at times – but everyone can join in with the signature anthem F**K It song. Reaching out (with such long arms!) to include the audience as fellow travellers makes the quest relatable whatever your age or gender, despite the show being an unapologetic celebration of women in their prime.
Jess Eaton’s eye-boggling costumes move from Hungarian pagan carnival vibes to architectural salvage with some 1970’s suitings and plenty of astonishing wigs. Fabulously clunky AI projections and film by Raphael Lambrakis-Haddad illustrate both the quest and Dooley’s family. Her son Toby and partner Tim, as the only representatives of men in the show, are freakily AI’d and delightfully awful. Playing up to oldies as lousy with tech while being in a tech-led show is similarly inspired. Game of Crones is a knockabout challenge, fuelled by the reality of life as women on the battlefield of the so-called Third Age. Hugely theatrical, aided by Joe Fleming’s fluffy cloud creations and Sean’s lighting, this new iteration would benefit from a few nips and tucks but will no doubt firm up through the tour. I make no apologies for highly recommending; lesson learnt.
