Lext Nevel from De Gestampte Girls is a fast, beautifully groomed show about pressure to perform

It starts with a bizarre record attempt in which three young women in red tracksuits tie as many elastics as possible around their heads and attach clothespins to their bodies. This immediately portrays the style of the trio De Gestampte Girls well: we can expect physical and musical cabaret. The theme is also quickly clear. Lext Nevel is about performance pressure, about the question of how high your ambitions should be and when you will be successful.

In the fast, beautifully arranged show that follows, Esmée van Liere, Ymke van Hoof and Thenera van der Pluijm also examine their own status as theater makers. Because they are not very well known yet, and that while they have been active for seven years and have made various shows. ‘How long can you actually be an up-and-coming cabaret collective?’, one of the women asks her colleagues.

Now this trio may well continue to be up and coming, because they can certainly do something. Under the varied direction of Wimie Wilhelm, De Gestampte Girls show sketches, mutual discussions about their ambitions versus the world problems, dance, a beautiful act with flying red lights and catchy songs full of rap and electropop, with titles such as Crying in the limousine and Happy Birthday Bitch†

You sit amused for more than 75 minutes, even though the lyrics fly in so many directions that a very original conclusion about the performance theme is not drawn. Also, the jokes and the butts of satire could be a little sharper. The skit in which Esmée parodies a depressed YouTuber is definitely fun (‘Stay Esmeezing!’), but would benefit from more comic exaggeration. This applies to more parts of the show: a successful attempt, where records are just not broken.