DYKE Systems Ltd review at Exeter Phoenix

It’s Friday night, and top saleswoman Sandra and her protégé Sally are on the final stop of their seminar tour. Bedecked in power suits, diamante and 1950s-eyeshadow, they’re here to recruit us into the ‘DYKE System’ – a programme for Dynamic Young Knowledgeable Entrepreneurs invented by the incomparable Mary La Belle to punt her ‘must-have product’. If we prove ourselves worthy businesswomen, we too might succeed in climbing the triangle of opportunity and make it to the Lavender Lounge, or even – GASP! – join Mary in The Golden Circle...

But what is this magical product? How much of themselves are Sandra and Sally willing to sacrifice to make it to the top? And who keeps calling on the phone?

Arts Writer, Editor and June Boom Co-Producer Belinda Dillon shares a night out at Exeter Phoenix...

Over a laugh-out-loud hour, award-winning double act Fag Packet (Kheski Kobler and Holly Wilson-Guy) dazzle us with a fast-paced takedown of corporate feminism, heteronormative conformity and empty get-rich-quick schemes. As the DYKE Systems business model starts to crumble around them, can Sally confess her true feelings, and will Sandra admit that her entire persona is built on a lie?

A gloriously camp cabaret, DYKE Systems Ltd is an absolute hoot from start to Thelma-and-Louise-style finale. Kobler and Wilson-Guy are utterly charming performers, using physical theatre, drag aesthetic and a shameless commitment to rolling out every queer pun known to humankind for a heart-felt celebration of being true to yourself. Break out that leather vest and ride!

Explore what's on during June Boom in Exeter this month.