THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Satire and comedy are back!
Haven't you missed unedited laughter, letting it out without the caveat "Oh, should I be laughing?" Well guess what? Comedy is back and Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image the Musical at the Phoenix Theatre is delivering the yucks along with puppeteers, ingenious voiceover actors and great writers. The overture announcement informs you that adult and obnoxious humorous attacks with no-one free from parody will be taking place and, "If you might find yourself offended, you can f*ck off now!" From the opener, it was a continuous laugh-fest which is a tonic from the cautiousness of judgmental woke-patrol.
Brought to you by writers Matt Forde, Al Murray and Sean Foley (writer and director) you wanted to be in the room where it happened when this script came together. The voiceover actors - including the talented Jess Robinson and legendary Debra Stephenson - are the unseen stars who bring to life the voices of the insanely imaginative puppets, which include RuPaul, Harry and Meghan, Rishi Sunak, Zelensky and Putin, Elton John and David Furnish, Harry Styles, Piers Morgan, Jacob Rees-Mogg a praying mantis, a vaping bug-eyed Paddington Bear and a non-sweating Prince Andrew - are you getting a visual here? You have to keep your ear to the stage not to miss the rapid-fire wit and occasionally a line can be missed making it all more reason to book again as a Christmas treat.
There is in fact a plot, with Tom Cruise as the head of a group of superheroes uniting to defeat Boris Johnson who is trying to take the crown from King Charles. For hardcore Spitting Image fans, Maggie Thatcher appears at the end damning the integrity of politicians from any party. The script will update as the world news evolves.
At the break I spoke to a Canadian and asked if he was getting all of the quips as it is nuanced and very specifically British and he snapped back at me straight faced, "Yes, I am, I'm a theatre critic!" Case in point, North Americans can take themselves very seriously and in this theatre egos need to be parked outside. It will be interesting to see how international punters absorb the humor and I feel certain it will be a top ticket. You might consider your botox a week beforehand to keep the crows feet in check.
So if you want to see Carrie Johnson's talking nipples, Kanye calling RuPaul "JewPaul", Dancing Penis Puppets and Nigel Farage peeing off the white cliffs of Dover, this is the ticket to a heartlifting night out.
