O Picture by Johan Perrson

Originally published by L.S. Media. March 15th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

Cast:  Aitor Basauri, Stephen Kreiss, Petra Massey, Toby Park.

You can sit there all night thinking of the best way to describe Spymonkey’s Oedipussy, scratch your head and explain what you’ve seen in words that are both fitting to the company and the creators behind one of the great adaptations of Greek theatre. What it all boils down too, is that the team behind Spymonkey are pure and utter comic geniuses!

Petra Massey, Toby Park, Aitor Basauri and Stephen Kreiss are the four incredible clowns that follow in the tradition of Monty Python, Morecombe and Wise and their like, they surpass them with consummate and frightening ease. If there is time for a theatre company to step beyond the velvet curtain that separates audience from performer and become truly stellar then Spymonkey’s are at the absolute peak of their creativity whilst keeping that all important toga clinging on the ground.

For anyone that hasn’t managed to catch the genuine affection for total insanity and the adept way that they control the action by just keeping one toe the right side of absurdity, Oedipussy is an excellent place to start. The four performers made their way onto the stage dressed conservatively and spoke to the audience as if this was the most normal thing to do. Sitting down, sombre, serious but with a wonderful glint in each eye, the actors made their way through a scathing review from a well-known Scottish newspaper arts critic who shall remain nameless. By doing so the team expressed their thoughts and that it “was a much needed kick up the backside” to them, from point they continued to do what they do better than anybody currently touring can do and poke fun perfectly and with absolute artistic abandon.

It is impossible to know what the ancient Greeks made of their playwrights, it’s doubtful that a well-known Scottish newspaper took the time and expense to send someone to review Sophocles and tell him that it was a bit glum. However, to the audiences who have packed out theatres across the country, it’s doubtful that they ever imagined it to be performed like this. In the superb writing of Carl Grose of Kneehigh Theatre and the company this was a play that played the fool and rose like a champion.

The internal monologues of each player wove through the play with an enjoyable nod to each of the actor’s lives outside of the company. Stephen Kriess thoughts of turning 50 whilst the play was on tour in Lancaster was both a nod to the serious and worthy of outstanding applause in itself.

Petra Massey also deserves special mention, not only as the only woman on stage but for all she put herself through for the team. It is no wonder that Petra is highly regarded within theatre circles but also this is a woman who should be considered as one of the finest female comedic stage actors of our time. Impeccable timing and with the ability to bounce off her tremendous fellow clowns with grace, poise and the cheekiest grin this side of ancient Greece.

No doubt, Joyce Mulligan would have disapproved. In that regard Spymonkey’s Oedipussy is a sure fire hit and with no shadow of doubt, one of the most enjoyable and laugh out loud evenings to make its way onto a stage in Liverpool.

Ian D. Hall