An anarchic, tender and ‘unfrogettable’ return from the Spymonkey team
“It’s tapdancing frogs Dad, why wouldn’t you want to go?” our 15-year-old, theatre-obsessed daughter chided. She’s been my reviewing sidekick for the last few months but was unavailable for The Frogs press night, and her father was to be my plus-one instead. He didn’t want to miss The Traitors on telly, but the lure of live theatre worked.
I was pretty sure we’d reviewed Spymonkey before – way back in February 2012 it turns out – and a lot has happened to the comedy quartet since. No longer a foursome, as revealed via the play-within-a-play, or ‘falling into the space between scenes.’
Actors Toby Park and Aitor Basauri have been forced into a double act, as their former Spymonkey members Petra and Stephan were no longer around in real life. Petra had taken a gig in Vegas and yes, Stephan really did die.
That grief weaves its way through the chaotic retelling of Aristophanes’ ancient Greek comedy, which Spymonkey’s remaining members have been persuaded to stage by newcomer Jacoba Williams (whose multiple costumes and character changes are just amazing). She sweeps the old boys along with both gentle encouragement – they’ll be reviving ‘the first every comedy double act’ – and the scorn of her multiple monster parts, including a muscle-suited Heracles with his swinging chipolata and beans, and a multi-headed monster whose angry puncturing of her various faces is classic Spymonkey.
The Frogs, in summary, is a quest story. The preening half-God Dionysius (Park) and his slave Xanthias (Basauri) have to travel to Hades to bring back the recently dead playwright Euripides. Sent on their way by Heracles (Williams) who assumes they’ll be staying in hell for good, the duo meet various characters along the way, including the aforementioned tap-dancing and psychoactive frogs (played by a Northampton community cast).
The audience doesn’t have to know all the theatre-studies in-jokes, but it helps. Someone was laughing, very loudly, from the moment the first cagoule-clad frog appeared to the giant frog finale and, to be frank, it was a massive distraction for the rest of us.
The storytelling – reflective perhaps of the shattered confidence of the depleted theatre company – is manic. The search for dead Euripides in the ancient Greek is mirrored and morphed into Toby and Aitor’s search for much-mourned Stephan – processing grief right in your face and without apology. Forget breaking the fourth wall by talking to the audience – it also broke our hearts a little.
While straight-man Park and his effortlessly funny sidekick Basauri awaken their decades-old comic partnership, it’s Williams who adds the pace. She carries not only the enormous and frankly beautifully mad costumes (bravo Lucy Bradridge), but the contemporary reality of theatre. Is it enough to do jokes about asses and reference numerous old white blokes, when theatre – and the and the society it is supposed to reflect – has changed beyond recognition? (See also: giant moon/mirror as part of the set).
We thoroughly enjoyed the Frogs – yes, it’s bonkers, slightly meandering and not fully formed just yet – but my jaw ached from laughing and the tender sadness of lost friends and aging was palpable.
Please, stick the Traitors on to record and go and see this Made in Northampton co-production while you can. The Frogs runs until Saturday February 3 (with £10 tickets for the under 25s), before it transfers to The Kiln in London. For tickets visit Royal and Derngate Box office or call 01604 624811.
