Spamalot
★★★★☆ Hilarious
King’s Theatre: Tue 26 – Sat 30 Sept 2017
Review by Hugh Simpson
The Mercury Theatre, Colchester’s touring version of Monty Python’s Spamalot for Selladoor Productions is consistently funny and may just be the best version of the show to have come to Edinburgh.
One of the songs written by Eric Idle and John du Prez for their reworked version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail insists that – on this side of the Atlantic at least – a musical without a marquee name is bound to fail. This production very definitely shows that to be a lie. Some of the later incarnations of the original Spamalot did appear to cast their King Arthur with an eye on the box office. By the end – although always funny – the outcome could be somewhat unbalanced and a little tired.
This version is undeniably fresh and inventive, and as a result is constantly cheering. A prime example is the aforementioned You Won’t Succeed In Showbiz, discharged here with verve and nerve by Stephen Arden as the not-so-brave Sir Robin, featuring some clever updating and a cheeky homage to Sally Bowles.
Director Daniel Buckroyd injects the rest of the show with the same freshness and energy. There are moments that are certainly close to the film, but few who have seen the celluloid Knights Who Say Ni or the French Taunter would be able to perform those lines without aping the originals. While Python fans are the primary audience, there is no need to have any familiarity with their output, as the musical still works remarkably well on its own merits.
The conventions and cliches of musical theatre are as much the butt of the joke as anything, with Sarah Harlington providing a fittingly OTT slighted diva as the Lady of the Lake. Her take on Whatever Happened To My Part is particularly pleasing, while she and Norton James’s expansive Galahad make The Song That Goes Like This genuinely funny however often you may have heard it before.
reassuringly Pythonesque
The cast throw themselves into a huge variety of roles with relish. Jonathan Tweedie and Marc Akinfolarin are versatile performers, while Matthew Pennington and Rhys Owen are likeable comic presences. Bob Harms is a gratifyingly straightforward Arthur after some of the ‘name’ performers of the role, and at times has a reassuringly Pythonesque quality – although he is much more reminiscent of John Cleese than of Graham Chapman’s original.
Ashley Nottingham’s choreography pokes gentle fun at West End tropes while being impressive in itself, with the Camelot number, complete with tap-dancing on Spam cans, a real highlight. Hints of pantomime in the staging are both welcome and judiciously used.
Sara Perks’s design is clever and impressive – constraints on budget and staging felt by touring productions are rarely in evidence, with the occasional struggles of a tiny band to do justice to the bigger numbers the only real drawback.
Otherwise, there is little to fault in a production that scores very highly indeed for sheer entertainment and comes highly recommended.
Running time 2 hours 10 minutes including one interval
King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ.
Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 September 2017
Evenings 7.30 pm, Matinee Wed and Sat at 2.30 pm
Tickets: http://www.edtheatres.com/spamalot
Tour facebook page: @spamuktour.
Tour on Twitter: @spamuktour.
Website: www.selladoor.com/productions/spamalot.
Spamalot on tour: | |||
---|---|---|---|
Tue 26 – Sat 30 Sep 2017 | Edinburgh King’s Theatre |
0131 529 6000 | Book online |
Wed 4 – Sat 7 Oct 2017 | Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre |
0844 871 3011 | Book online |
Tue 10 – Sat 14 Oct 2017 | Sunderland Empire |
0844 871 3022 | Book online |
Tue 24 – Sat 28 Oct 2017 | Exeter Northcott Theatre |
01392 72 63 63 | Book online |
Tue 31 Oct – Sat 4 Nov 2017 | Chester Storyhouse |
0845 241 7868 | | Book online |
Tue 7– Sat 11 Nov 2017 | Manchester Palace |
0844 871 3019 | Book online |
Tue 14 – Sat 18 Nov 2017 | Woking New Victoria Theatre |
0844 871 7645 | Book online |
Tue 21– Sat 25 Nov 2017 | Wimbledon New Theatre |
0844 871 7646 | Book online |
2018 | |||
Tue 16 – Sat 20 Jan 2018 | Buxton Opera House |
01298 72190 | Book online |
Tue 30 Jan – Sat 3 Feb 2018 | Reading The Hexagon |
0118 960 6060 | Book online |
Tue 6 – Sat 10 Feb 2018 | Eastbourne Devonshire Park Theatre |
01323 412000 | Book online |
Tue 20 – Sat 24 Feb 2018 | Portsmouth New Theatre Royal |
023 9264 9000 | Book online |
Tue 27 Feb – Sat 3 Mar 2018 | Coventry Belgrade Theatre |
024 7655 3055 | Book online |
Tue 6 – Sat 10 Mar 2018 | Malvern Festival Theatre |
01684 892277 | Book online |
Tue 13 – Sat 17 Mar 2018 | Billingham Forum Theatre |
01642 552663 | Book online |
Tue 20 – Sat 24 Mar 2018 | Cardiff Millenium Centre |
029 2063 6464 | Book online |
Tue 27 – Sat 31 Mar 2018 | Basildon Townsgate Theatre |
01268 465465 | Book online |
Tue 3 – Sat 7 Apr 2018 | Wirral Floral Pavillion |
0151 666 0000 | Book online |
Tue 17 – Sat 21 Apr 2018 | Derby Derby Theatre |
01332 593939 | Book online |
Tue 24 – Sat 28 Apr 2018 | Dartford Orchard Theatre |
01322 220000 | Book online |
Tue 8 – Sat 12 May 2018 | Doncaster Cast Theatre |
01302 303 959 | Book online |
Tue 15 – Sat 19 May 2018 | Shrewsbury Theatre Seven |
01743 281281 | Book online |
ENDS
We attended the show in Dublin the 26th!
I was incredibly well played with a small cast but exceptional
We will be more than Happy to see again the show in Dublin or in the UK
Best
Christophe and Marie