When I realized that Two Girls for Five Bucks was going to be a two-woman comedy show about dating foibles, I was wary. Not that I have anything against women, or dating, but I do find it troubling that so many all-female shows are all about men. Call me new-fashioned, but it seems to reinforce the patriarchal notion that the most interesting thing about women is how they relate to men.
Indeed, throughout most of Two Girls for Five Bucks, men were the elephant in the room. In their mash-up of storytelling and sketch comedy, Cathleen Carr and Daiva Deupree play a parade of pathetic characters, all of them young women; they moon over men, throw themselves at men and long to be completed by men. In one pantomime sketch, a barren spinster ogles her neighbor, shouting, “I will marry you so hard!”
“Independent Woman Part I” this was not.
And yet, Two Girls eventually won me over. The characters were neurotic, quirky and engaging, and Carr and Deupree committed to them with bracing energy. Ultimately, although the show revolved around relationships with men, the women on stage were the most interesting thing.
Carr and Deupree are at their best when they take off their costumes and play themselves. In two storytelling segments—one about how their parents met and one about how they lost their virginity—the two girls use their comfortable charisma to elicit belly laughs. I’ve never seen The Vagina Monologues, but I’d imagine this is what those monologists would sound like after swallowing a Xanax and a funny pill. Not that the stories were particularly racy; in fact, they were almost wholesome. Some of the biggest laughs came from innocuous details, like what song was on the radio.
The show’s website describes the experience as a “hilarious romp of loneliness, insecurity, and desperation.” This is hardly a motto of empowerment. But at least it’s their desperation. And at least it’s entertaining.
Two Girls for Five Bucks performs again as part of Viva la Diva with Bridget Everett and Mel & El. Ars Nova, 511 W. 54th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-868-4444; 8, $15.
Indeed, throughout most of Two Girls for Five Bucks, men were the elephant in the room. In their mash-up of storytelling and sketch comedy, Cathleen Carr and Daiva Deupree play a parade of pathetic characters, all of them young women; they moon over men, throw themselves at men and long to be completed by men. In one pantomime sketch, a barren spinster ogles her neighbor, shouting, “I will marry you so hard!”
“Independent Woman Part I” this was not.
And yet, Two Girls eventually won me over. The characters were neurotic, quirky and engaging, and Carr and Deupree committed to them with bracing energy. Ultimately, although the show revolved around relationships with men, the women on stage were the most interesting thing.
Carr and Deupree are at their best when they take off their costumes and play themselves. In two storytelling segments—one about how their parents met and one about how they lost their virginity—the two girls use their comfortable charisma to elicit belly laughs. I’ve never seen The Vagina Monologues, but I’d imagine this is what those monologists would sound like after swallowing a Xanax and a funny pill. Not that the stories were particularly racy; in fact, they were almost wholesome. Some of the biggest laughs came from innocuous details, like what song was on the radio.
The show’s website describes the experience as a “hilarious romp of loneliness, insecurity, and desperation.” This is hardly a motto of empowerment. But at least it’s their desperation. And at least it’s entertaining.
Two Girls for Five Bucks performs again as part of Viva la Diva with Bridget Everett and Mel & El. Ars Nova, 511 W. 54th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-868-4444; 8, $15.
