General Secretary ★★★ Thick 'n' Fast (online) | Apr 8-24, 2021


Cassie Symes and Georgina Thomas are both the writers and performers of General Secretary, a satire on world domination. The premise is that the UN decides all recent attempts to run the world successfully have failed so it will choose two random young women to take over leadership. It is a pity that there are so few laugh-out-loud moments; this isn't helped by the lack of a live audience. Frequent cutting to a parody of a news broadcast works well and Symes and Thomas are excellent in the various roles they assign to themselves. We particularly liked the “Techy Bois” and felt that they could actually survive as comedy characters in their own right. As the show develops it becomes increasingly evident that the new regime is a parody of the Communist takeover of Russia with the bickering leaders channeling Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. There are moments when a scatter-gun approach seems to be in operation, making the piece feel a little like a work-in-progress. However, Symes and Thomas work well as a pair and should certainly be applauded for their efforts. Great fun is had during the finale with the winning entry from their World Song Festival – over the years the UK has entered a lot worse songs than this in Eurovision! Overall, Symes and Thomas are very talented and personable; one only wishes they could really bring us the 'Peace, Prosperity and Partnership' their characters hope for.

Rated: ★★★

Reviewed by D.S.J.
Photo by The Other Richard.

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