The Australian premiere of an Irish comedy will debut in Canberra, before touring to The Butterfly Club in Melbourne.

Directed by Irish born actor Christopher Samuel Carroll for his company Bare Witness Theatre Co, it features the comic talents of Ashleigh Butler and Claire Imlach, who trained with him in Canberra Youth Theatre’s Emerge Company.

The play, Sauce, by Irish writer Ciara Elizabeth Smyth, was first staged in 2019 and is billed by Carroll as a “new buddy-comedy that revels in the gross, the inappropriate, and the downright obscene.”

“I think comedy in Ireland is darker, and willing to go further into uncomfortable territory than most of the comedy you see on stage or screen in Australia… it’s not for the easily offended – but for everyone else, it’s an absolute treat,” Carroll says.

Briefly, Mella’s been caring for her Nanna who has just died, but when Uncle Paddy inherits her apartment, he kicks Mella out.

Meantime Maura’s marriage is falling apart.

Fate intervenes when Maura and Mella end up at a slimming group called Fat Watch – this is where the forbidden lashings of sauce come in —and they become best buddies.

Smith’s Alternative, Civic, December 11–15.