Originally published by L.S. Media. August 10th 2010.
“Camelot, it’s such a silly place” but so marvellous to visit and a joy to see Eric Idle’s West End smash hit comedy Spamalot transfer effortlessly around the country and eventually park the savage rabbit, doll out the much loved absurdity and revel in the spirit that is pure Monty Python at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool.
Written by Eric Idle and a musical score by John Du Prez, the story is pretty much the same as the film created by the Python team but with a few saucy extra bits added to give the talented cast as much time on stage as is possible.
A story of heroism, chivalric values, an honourable quest to prove godliness…this isn’t but instead it’s a story of bizarre, taunting Frenchmen, a diva like lady from a slightly big pond and a rabbit that takes no prisoners.
Marcus Brigstocke is an absolute gem as King Arthur and without doubt the late, great Graham Chapman would have approved from his celestial mantelpiece and laughed along at the recreation of the Black Knight scene, tittered with mirth at the sight of fellow python Eric Idle as God and fell about wetting himself as the actors and musicians kept everything within the character of the story.
One of the revelations of the night was seeing Todd Carty on stage playing the part of Patsy. More famous for playing gritty roles such as the teen rebel Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill and a psychotic policeman in The Bill, Todd was simply outstanding as he captured the essence of Terry Gilliam’s trod upon serf perfectly. A moment of true joy was seeing him squashed by the flying cow!
For the Python purist there could not have been a better sight than seeing the cast include Always Look on the Bright side of Life from Life of Brian, not once, but twice! Talk about going out on a high.
Spamalot will go down as one of those magical nights of theatre that go down so well with Liverpool theatre goers, completely off the wall, well scripted (with a cast capable of going off script slightly, when the mood captures them) and more important, as funny as a Knight demanding a shrubbery.
An absolute smash.
Ian D. Hall