Spyski

Main House:
There are moments in even the most devout theatre-lovers' lives when we wonder why we bother – mostly during revivals of plays about people in frock coats. Peepolykus's new comedy 'Spyski' starts in frock coats, then cathartically casts them aside to indulge in the most glorious entertainment for ages: a celebration of the irrelevant, egotistical and sometimes wonderful business of theatre, as well as a ripping thriller and a vintage comedy masterclass to boot. Ostensibly, we're here to see 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. But when the surveillance operative in the front row leaves the auditorium, the company reveals its real purpose: to re-enact the incendiary story of 'how we were drawn into a terrifying global underworld of global politics' when actor John Nicholson found himself in hospital with a spy who'd been poisoned by, er, Time Out. The cast swap characters, wigs and preposterous accents in escalating frenzy, while the script scales woozy heights of Morecambe and Wise daftness. The whole evening laughingly reproaches every dutiful revival ever mounted in denial of the world beyond the stage door. Love of theatre triumphantly re-established: I have nothing to declare but 'Spyski's genius.