In Those People, Lara Ciulli (one half of 2024’s stellar The Sisters Fig) and Riana White play Lara Ciulli and Riana White: clown-actors living in East London, going through messy break-ups, and falling in love with each other.
Billed as a clown show, there are some sketches that are played for straight laughs (including a withering pastiche the Wuthering Heights adaptation directed, they say, by “Esmerelda Fuckface”). But the bulk of the show progresses through a series of sketches that feel like autofiction – mostly arguments, either between the pair or with one of them standing in for another partner, that capture the ardour and angst of early relationships.
Whether these scenes really are autofictional – and the extent to which the performers are a real couple – is the driving force of the show. That truth-telling dynamic is a common one in stand-up but a rare one in sketch, and it makes the room buzz with the charge of real intimacy.
When Ciulli reads a raw love letter written by White, or when the show is ‘paused’ while the pair duel with accusations of grandstanding and insecurity, there’s an electricity of candour rarely achieved in comedy. Maintaining that edge without tripping into onanism is some achievement.
Those People, Pleasance Courtyard, until 30 Aug (not 17), 11pm