Sammy J & Randy: Rickett's Lane

Winner of Most Outstanding Show at this year's Melbourne festival, this successor to 2008's Sammy J in The Forest of Dreams has been so eagerly anticipated that you begin to wonder if it can meet expectations. It doesn't. It gleefully surpasses them.

After an opening sketch that neatly establishes their relationship as a slightly creepy Bert and Ernie, the duo launch into a story that's tightly plotted and moves at a Formula One pace. Naive Sammy J is a tax inspector on the trail of a massive fraud which leads back to his housemate Randy, a filthy-mouthed puppet who's spent over $10,000 on Jaegermeister and boasts of having committed unspeakable sex acts on Enya.

Unforgettable moments seem to arrive every other minute: the bizarre rules of their homemade board game, Chebble; Sammy J's pole dancing; every one of the songs; and the greatest switch from colour to monochrome since The Wizard Of Oz. The boys are clearly having the time of their lives and their joy is as infectious as Randy's chlamydia.

Sammy J and puppeteer Heath McIvor are in that zone now. Like Bowie in the early 70s, they seem capable of cranking out masterpieces at will. Rickett's Lane is a triumph and a giddy delight. After seeing it, you will immediately want to see it again.