the hemline indexChange is progression. That’s the assessment of The Hemline Index, which examines the extent to which women have changed in the last thirty years.

The Hemline Index of the title, in case you don’t know, is an economic theory which proposes that hemlines on women’s dresses rise along with stock prices. In 1984 amid second-wave feminism, economic boom and miniskirts, Jen is trying to get promoted by Amstrad. 2014? Fourth-wave, underemployment, the mid-length. Women are getting married later, having children later and, whereas women might once have hoped to settle down in the countryside by the time they reach 30, Amy would be happy to pay off her Topshop card.

Combining movement, verbatim and spoken word, this is a fast-moving and funny production about the overlapping lives of two women in two different historical moments. Written by Eva Hibbs, it compares and contrasts letters with emails, Jane Fonda with gluten free cupcakes and Bonnie Tyler with Beyoncé in an attempt to draw out some of the similarities between the lives of two twenty-something women in their defining decade.

Against the backdrop of a purple changing room curtain and a collection of hanger-bound skirts, the two women share stories about employment, relationships, health and fitness. It emerges as a piece about consumerism and highlights how the two women are shaped by their respective socio-economic contexts. Here we can see first-hand how the Baby Boomer generation will make way for a bunch of over-qualified, under-paid graduates who are likely to become the first generation in history to be poorer than their parents.

Melissa Booth and Rose Wardle give this piece an infectious zany energy and both show themselves to be accomplished at singing into hair brushes. This is slick work from Fringe First winners Portmanteau, but like its empty-headed characters, The Hemline Index is lacking in depth and it remains an exercise in compare and contrast that fails to make any definite conclusions.

The Hemline Index is at the Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 30) until 25 August. For more information and tickets visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.