I love the Celestial Bureaucracy concept from fiction. To see it acted out with a snarlingly satirical north-east accent, and focusing on outcasts both Above and Below, looked like it would be a delight. And it was! Many thanks to Mel and the team at ARC Stockton for inviting and looking after me.

Lasting just an hour, yet brimming with creativity, we are first introduced to Sid and Viv asleep at their desk – well-dressed, wing-sprouting cogs in the Almighty civil service called Omniscience. Supposedly tasked with monitoring spots on Earth – fittingly enough, tucked away in deepest ‘Boro – our two ‘angels’ are more interested in carving out their own defiant rebellious little outpost than following the nice, normal and compliant course charted for them – for everyone – by Omniscience.

But when the prayers start piling up in their rancid filing cabinets, our two guardian angels realise they have to take action to help the disenfranchised souls they’re meant to watch over – and in doing so inevitably discover some truths about themselves and each other, about belonging and solidarity, individuality and expression.

I was truly impressed by the vision that is so palpable in this production. From the first glimpse of Sid and Viv’s cheerfully vandalized office-space, with its flickering monitors watching commonplace street views, you are transported into their bizarre, hilarious, horrific and touching world. Mimi Loughran as Viv and Audrey Cook as Sid embody their roles effortlessly, and with such confidence that they seem born to be these characters.

They are loud, mobile, accessorise constantly with their myriad pprops nda clamber all over their appropriately cramped set. The story bowls along at speed, peppered with shrieked epithets and rasping gags, yet constantly broken through with rays of benevolence, compassion, pride and love.

It is raucously funny throughout, coarse and wry in equal turns and achingly modern; younger audiences will instantly fall in love, recognise and be recognised in this story. GOFFs of the world, rejoice – you have the friendship of angels Viv and Sid, a hilarious and hell-raising yet heaven-sent pair of modern miracle-workers. Recommended you catch Bus Stop Goths when it comes near you!

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