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  • Spyski

  • Until Nov 1 2008
    • New
    • Critics' Choice
  • This event has finished
  • Lyric Hammersmith, King St, London, W6 0QL
  • Rating:

  • By Brian Logan

    Posted: Mon Oct 20 2008

  • 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 real-life-within-a-play conceit allows for fine jokes on theatre’s ridiculousness, even as David Farr’s production hurls itself full-pelt at an intricately woven espionage yarn. The plot involves a Russian scheme to genetically engineer submissive babies, one of whom falls into Nicholson’s hands. The foundling child theme mirrors Wilde, whose play the other four actors rehearse (with Javier Marzan hilarious as a Spanish Jack Worthing) while their co-star’s Richard Hannay-style adventure unfolds.

    The cast members swap characters, wigs and preposterous accents in escalating frenzy, while the script (by Nicholson and Steven Canny) scales woozy heights of Morecambe and Wise daftness. ‘What about a radiography test?’ a nurse proposes. ‘Good idea,’ replies the doctor. ‘Who was Marie Curie?’ 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.
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2 comments

  1. Posted by Chris Read on 07 Nov 2008 23:55

    Best night I've had in a theatre for ages, though I fear that by sitting in the front row I'm going to be framed for murder

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  2. Posted by matt woods on 28 Oct 2008 19:37

    Once again peepolylkus pull it off.
    Their Hound of the Baskevilles proved more entertaining and polished than the current much lauded 39 Steps.

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