I’m not a devotee of the comedic genre and wouldn’t ordinarily choose this show. But I am a devotee – and a fervent one! – of Babes with Blades. With PLAID AS HELL the Babes, as always, bring it off. Written by Cat McCaysh/h and directed by Christina Casano/h, PLAID AS HELL takes four friends on their annual camping weekend to a remote cabin in the big woods of Wisconsin. But don’t be misled –  this is not Little House in the Big Woods! Laura might do OK in this gang, but Ma would definitely look askance.

The central character Cass (Reagan Jamessh/h) is hoping to promote her new girlfriend Jessica (Ashley Yatessh/h) with her old friends Kelly (Alice Wush/h) and lifelong BFF Emilie (Cayla Jonessh/h). Alas for Cass! not only does Emilie choose this weekend to disclose her longtime love for Cass, a serial killer has eluded the local police! Well, not technically a serial killer, Kelly annotates; this guy’s only killed two women, and to be serial you need three. 

Art is so educational innit?

PLAID AS HELL is a lighthearted frolic, pretty much devoid of anything approaching social significance.  It’s just fun, making no pretense of being anything but slightly-raunchy entertainment. In this it succeeds heartily.

The acting is first-rate, particularly in the occasional silent bits. There’s definitely a lot going on inside each woman’s head!  Cass is engrossed in her emissarial mission, Jess is intimidated at being an interloper cloistered with this close knit clique, Emilie is teetering between bereaved and begrudging, and Kelly is bummed at being plunked in the middle of this foolish fray.

But they’re all making a valiant effort and, abetted by beer, they’re just starting to have fun when the radio Interrupts Regular Programming with a Special Announcement: a murderer may be loose in the woods. And so it goes from there, through all the lurches and twists of the horror genre, with queer notes tossed in for spice.

The set designed by Erin Gautille sh/h is simple, easily converted from indoors to out- with a couple of shoves. Costumes (Jennifer Mohrsh/h) are a bit more elaborate; for four dykes in the woods, they change clothes nearly as much as in As the World Turns! Meg X McGrath th/th manages ba-jillions of props, from a 12-pack of Pabst to a four-foot-long ax. Fight and Intimacy Director Maureen Yasko sh/h, with Assistant Kate Lass sh/h, have plenty of opportunities to display the fighting and fornicating finesse we expect from the Babes with Blades. The production crew as a whole -- Devon Hayakawa Any (Assistant Director), Anna Schultz-Breef sh/h (Lighting Design), Line Bower th/th (Technical Director), Faith Roush sh/h (Production Manager), Roxie Kooi sh/h (Stage Manager), and Tab Mocherman th/th (Covid Compliance Officer) – works together seamlessly.

Quintessential queer ribaldry, PLAID AS HELL is Babes with Blades at their peerless prurient prime!