If you can get your head around the fact that this production, under the Brighton Festival banner, takes place on the pier in Worthing, the next few paragraphs will make perfect sense. If, however, you’re struggling with that concept, it’s going to get a lot tougher very soon!
Spymonkey are a Brighton based physical theatre company, currently celebrating their 20th anniversary. The four members of the troupe, Toby Park, Aitor Basauri, Stephan Kreiss and Petra Massey are all treading the fine line between genius and lunacy and, in Cooped, it is most definitely the lunacy that wins.
To set the scene, there’s a spooky mansion, a German butler, a Spanish Lawyer / Bishop / Monk / Detective, an English aristocrat, a young lady with some serious issues and a whole host of animals. There is also a storyline, but you’re best not to worry too much about that, not until the very end anyway.
This show is about one thing, and one thing only – What can Spymonkey do to make you laugh? The answer is that they can, and will, do whatever it takes. The physicality of the comedy is breathtaking (by that I mean it takes their breath away too), the ability to squeeze yet another laugh out of the same joke is admirable and the absurdity of the entire show is what makes it so unbelievably brilliant.
It’s not a show for the kids, it has to be said. Three out of the four appear naked, there are a couple naughty words that are used, ping-pong balls make a surprise appearance and the pheasants are not house-trained (sorry, no, you have to see it to understand that bit!).
This is a show for lovers of Monty Python, or the Marx Brothers, or Bottom or any other type of slapstick physical comedy. It’s a show for people who don’t just want to giggle at the ridiculousness of it all, but actually want real belly-laughs. It is a show by four people who are, quite simply, masters of their craft.
***** Five Stars