This oddity from successful lesbian broadcaster and Duckie co-founder Amy Lamé takes a bit of getting used to.
Lamé describes it as a 'misremembered memoir' and in this monologue, helped by videoed interviews with members of her family, she recites a surreal tale of a childhood event: when she and her chubby siblings were kidnapped in a US department store by the Mamas And The Papas' Cass Elliot.
For three years, she says, Elliot made them tour the US singing covers of 1960s classics, in a troupe called The Mama Cass Family Singers. Worse, the siblings are now car crashes of lost childhood fame - victims of food, cigarette and alcohol addictions and depression. Yes, it's that weird.
This concept of fantastical tragi-comic memories is an interesting one, and you can imagine this being a nice starting point for a screwball half-hour TV show.
Herein lies the problem: although it was performed at the Edinburgh Festival this year, this hour still feels like an overlong work in progress. Despite Lamé's considerable charms, it never really hits its stride.
Until Sat, Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street W1, 9.30pm, £15 to £17.50, £12.50 to £15 concs. Tel: 0870 429 6883. www.sohotheatre.com Tube: Tottenham Court Road/ Piccadilly Circus
Amy Lame's Mama Cass Family Singers
Soho Theatre
Dean Street, W1D 3NE
