Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAre they besties, housemates or more than that? Lara Ciulli and Riana White keep the audience guessing in a gripping hour of comedyFifteen years ago in this room, I remember the thrill of encountering Lizzie and Sarah Daykin’s duo Toby, which complicated the double-act dynamic with highly charged, is-it-real sibling rivalry. I felt the thrills again with this two-hander featuring Lara Ciulli and Riana White, which refracts sketch comedy (and dance, and confessional) through the lens of queer female friendship. Who knows whether Ciulli and White are lifelong besties, housemates, sometimes-almost lovers? But they defy you to believe otherwise, in a gripping and slippery hour that splays their intimacy, codependency, mutual resentment and few-holds-barred humour across the stage.In a show with a major movement component – they spend much of it all over one another – Those People begins with a mime, of two women crashing their car into a lake, then one rescuing the other. Being one another’s salvation is the subtext of much that follows, as we dip in and out of the malfunctioning relationships in their pasts: the partner who insisted on showing Ciulli his favourite porn scene; the ex who refused to return White’s Calvin Kleins. The latter abstracts into an underwear fever dream, then into a naked breakdance by scene-stealing Ciulli. “You’re being selfish,” protests Riana, stepping out of the show. “OK, and you’re being insecure,” retorts Lara. Continue reading...