A capricious comedy, Spy Monkey's Moby Dick is highly recommended.
Toby Park and his motley crew of madcap performers running around town calling themselves Spymonkey have brought their hilarious, musical mis-telling of Melville's Moby Dick to Lyric Hammersmith where it's going down a storm.
In a design feat that surprises and delights with startling frequency, performers Aitor Basauri, Petra Massey and Stephan Kreiss, led by their captain Toby, present a myriad of utterly screw-loose characters on a mission to capture the legendary white sperm whale Moby Dick.
If these multi-talented performers are on a mission to wow, they pull it off spectacularly. Jos Houben's direction leaves no comic stone unturned and ensures that every potential for a laugh is fulfilled. From slapstick to word play, there's plenty of clowning and elements of physical theatre where even entire scenes performed in near silence can induce constant belly laughs from the crowd. Unafraid of improvisation Parks and Basauri draw the crowd into the performance while a fearless Petra sets out on her own mission to find a female part she can play. She constructs a mad Bjork type character who bounces off the walls quite literally and a fish monger who forever feels the sexual tension in the room.
She injects an element of unpredictability to the performance – it's her songs that have the saltiest language and have people wheezing with laughter. Of all the red skies and lightening, the neon costumes and the fireworks, it's Massey's song 'Fecund' about a mermaid's desire to procreate like humans do that proves most unforgettable. As advised, this is definitely not suitable for persons under the age of 11 (at least).
Much credit goes to the charming Basauri as cheeky Ishmael, who learns the ways of the sea under the imposing, obsessive Captain Ahab. Together with Stephan Kreiss' multitude of big dopey characters, they cleverly synchronise, joke, chide and egg each other on like children. Although there is an unexpected adultness about it that has grown-ups bent double. You'll be left clapping along, safe in the knowledge that it probably went right over the heads of any kids in the audience. A capricious comedy, Spy Monkey's Moby Dick is highly recommended.
Moby Dick runs at Lyric Hammersmith until May 1st.
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