Review: Betsy and Patty Find Out, Bedlam Theatre

Having spent the afternoon at Underbelly, whose tagline is Follow the Cow, I found myself doing just that a short while later as I headed into Bedlam Theatre. Because Betsy and Patty Find Out is quite literally a row of cows blindly following each other into the strange barn that they hope will be full of wonderful surprises. Spoiler alert: it’s not, as the regular crack of the stun gun makes perfectly clear as each takes their turn. 

At the rear of the queue is Patty (Carrie Keranen). She’s the optimistic one; her milk carton is most certainly half full. So here she stands, waiting her turn, full of positivity, until her friend Betsy (Jennifer DeRosa) strolls along to enquire what she is doing there. Betsy is very certain that they need to break free, to stop blindly following, to demand better conditions, because it’s wrong that they have got so conditioned into standing in their own shit that they just accept it as normal now. Patty wants to know what is outside the walls, the walls that she is sure are there to hold them in and stop them questioning whether something better is possible for them all. In fact, Patty wants to ask WHY to everything, because she knows that in doing so things could improve. But while they debate everything, their conversation is interjected with a call of “next” and off wanders the next curious cow into that barn, swiftly followed by the crack of the gun, with Betsy getting closer and closer to the front of the line. 

Betsy and Patty Find Out is a hidden gem of a show. Who would have thought that two people dressed in cow onesies could so perfectly sum up all the woes many of us are feeling about the current state of the world. They philosophise about the lack of critical thinking and how people will blindly follow others even when all the evidence is there as to why they shouldn’t (as this is an American production, you sense this is aimed at the MAGA movement along with the influence of social media), they lament about the bulls who always seem so angry about life and how maybe they need to just spend more time with the cows to chill out a little (toxic masculinity) and they ponder why they are always told that the other side of the wall is dangerous and they shouldn’t go there (fearmongering to suppress the masses, while distracting us from the real problems created by the billionaires). But most remarkably, having these things pointed out by two cows, both innocent about the wider world outside their farm, seems to make it sound so clearer, all the noise of our own political biases washed away to leave just the very simple message that underlines it all.  

In DeRosa and Keranen the show has a perfect pair of cows; their innocence and excitement as they discuss the possibilities of life are a delight, and even when they moan about their lot, they still hold an air of optimism that life could be better with a little effort. Their fellow bovine in the line all do their part as well, little glances back at the nattering pair, obediently strolling through the doors to disappear forever. It’s both funny and poignant as we again hear that gun crack. 

Patty and Betsy Find Out is wonderfully unique, wonderfully surreal. Who would have thought cows would be the ones to say what is needed to be said and do it so elegantly. The one downside, I had such an urge for a burger afterwards! Sorry ladies! 

Written and directed by: Aaron Francis 
Produced by: Fooled Again 

Betsy and Patty Find Out plays at the Bedlam Theatre until Sunday 30 August as part of Edfringe.