GLOBAL warming. Economic collapse. The popularity of Buzzfeed. Things are bad all over.

On the principle that comedy depends on tension, in “They’ve Already Won” Harriet Gillies and Pierce Wilcox argue energetically that the world is doomed and worse, we’re all too busy watching videos of cats on YouTube to do anything about it.

Their frustration then explodes into a series of increasingly nihilistic skits, including at least one interpretive dance and a short performance of an excerpt from Brendan Cowell’s play “Ruben Guthrie”.

Gillies and Wilcox give intense and perfectly pitched comic performances, unable to articulate their feelings about the state of the world except in the broken lingo of social media: things are so bad, they just… can’t even.

The pair pounce on absurdism as an opportunity to push the boundaries of theatre as a medium. At its worst, it can be a hodge-podge of random ideas stitched together to fill up time, but at its best it is genuinely clever and surprising.

While the comedy is riotous, the show is light on satire. Despite a few jabs at soft targets (usually conservative politicians), satire demands change, and this piece derives its energy from futility and helplessness.

“They’ve Already Won” is vivid and entertaining experimental theatre, ironically proving that there just might be hope for the world after all.

[Photo: Jack Toohey]