Review: 60 Minutes of Mood Swings, Fringe 2023

Birdy ventured out to find somewhere called ‘Riddle’s Court’ and was really glad she did! ’60 Minutes of Mood Swings’ was 100% worth it.

I didn’t really know what to expect from musical comedy 60 Minutes of Mood Swings and was really pleasantly surprised – I saw the show on its first day, and for me it was just perfect.

The On The Nose Productions show has been described as ‘radically feminist’, and is performed by five young women whose characters are looking to improve themselves to be precisely how society wants them to be.

The format

As I said above, this is a musical comedy and includes plenty of singing and great energy from all the performers. There’s a loose plot that we follow all the way through, and each song is performed well, despite there supposedly being ‘questionable’ singing featured.

The show starts with an announcement, and this announcement is repeated several times as the audience takes to their seats. It welcomes us to Camp TartTamer, a training course for young women, and warns of themes including suggestions of sexual assault, rape, homophobia, and brief mentions of suicide.

The vibe

After the announcement, I immediately got onboard with this vibe of this show, starting with the intro song, that goes something like “we are women, women, perfectly normal women, with eyes and smiles and boobs“. I particularly enjoyed the part of the song where they all sang out their bra sizes.

The vibe throughout is that ‘yes, men are a bit shit’ – especially Andrew Tate, who is apparently the sponsor of this particular camp for young women looking for self improvement. This is only pointed out further when the performers don bald caps and Tate-style sunglasses.

The five women are instructed by an ominous male voice about what they should be doing to improve. Should they give in to the demands of the patriarchy?

The show

The show didn’t let up for even a minute, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout. Mostly it’s a funny, relatable comedy about what women have to deal with on a daily basis, but it also gut punches you when you’re not quite expecting it.

One scene was particularly powerful and difficult to watch, and really brings home the vulnerability I’m sure most women have felt – on some level – at some point or another.

But there are plenty of comedy moments as well, including having to learn to give a blow job using a pink dildo, and the jar of pickles moment, where one of the women realises that yes, even they can open a jar and it’s not just an impossible pipe dream.

My favourite songs were We are Women, She’s a 10 But, and Don’t Walk Home Alone, and the women perform these catch numbers mostly wearing matching little camo playsuits and boots. Will they ever wake up and realise Camp TartTamer doesn’t have their best intentions at heart?

I was really rooting for them throughout! Watch the show to see what happens.

Overall

I really loved this funny, moving, feminist/anti-patriarchy show about the societal standards imposed on women. It’s performed with such enthusiasm and energy, and although there are potentially triggering topics addressed in the show, they’re handled sensitively and with care.

I would not hesitate to recommend 60 Minutes of Mood Swings to any of my friends, and especially to young Gen Z women.