It’s 2am and you’ve found yourself in an incoherent conversation with a high-energy himbo and his hot lady muse in the club smokers. They’re not a couple, and yet they keep making out in between offering you more of whatever it is they’re on. You can’t find your friends, and now you’re considering going home with them to explore a new life of non-monogamy.
That’s what going to see Hot Department is like. A wild party of fast quips, chaotic dance numbers and horniness. It’s not for the faint-of-heart, but it is for those who would rather go big than go home.
From the outset, Honor Wolff and Patrick Durnan Silva explode with energy. They’re dancing like nobody's watching, except it’s a packed-out audience at the Malthouse Theatre. This impeccable duo knows their audience very well – they’ve perfectly cultivated a style of comedy for the theatrical Inner North queer community. They walk, so a new breed of fast-paced and ultra-camp comedians can run.
Early on the duo reveals that they are, unsurprisingly, theatre kids, meeting at acting school before deciding to venture into comedy. This explains the triple-threat nature of Durnan Silva and Wolff — who can not only make you giggle, but can also come up with sharp song lyrics and even tap-dance.
Stand up comedians should watch out, because Hot Department relies on more than just witty observations. They will kill you with laughter, then tap-dance on your grave.
It’s refreshing to see sketch comedy made for a younger and chronically online audience. Brace yourself for a TikTok-esque Kiera Knightley impression and a very sapphic Barbie sketch, which are just some of the memeable highlights to look forward to.
In another memorable moment, the duo play a couple who tries to spice things up by pretending to be mice. Within minutes, the cuteness of the mouse sketch has dissipated — evolving into extreme levels of horndog and very little mouse. With so many fast and fun sketches, a circle back moment or cleverly interwoven theme would’ve really brought this show to new heights.
What Hot Department does best is turn any moment into something sexy and erotic. They will seamlessly turn you on, and terrify you in the span of 30 seconds or less. They aren’t afraid of bringing the audience in on the fun either, forcing two men to fight over Honor’s honour by using some carefully crafted cue cards.
Now we won’t spoil the ending, but be prepared to see Barbie in a whole new light — plus a leotard that leaves very little to the imagination. It was the perfect conclusion to an unhinged show of dancing incoherent madness. The stars of Hot Department are a power couple in the smokers you’ll never forget.
Hot Department is playing at the Malthouse's Beckett Theatre until Sunday, April 21. Tickets are available here.