Spymonkey's Moby Dick

Our Friday night cocktail evening based on Spaced went well, I think. Thanks to Kerry, we had a late inspiration to base it on Simon Pegg and co. and designed the cocktail menu accordingly with every character receiving their own drink. Thankfully the ice-crusher bought on ebay arrived just in time though typically only got used twice. There was a frantic 3 hours of shaking, mixing and washing then it seemed everyone realised how drunk they were and calmed down taking it easier preferring to extend their stay. Personal favourites were the Bubblegum shooter made of Creme de Banana, Blue Curacao and Baileys Irish Cream which actually tasted like Hubba Bubba.

Saturday teatime/evening was another comedy festival event. I'd never heard of the theatre group Spymonkey but they were presenting their version of Moby Dick at the Brighton Corn Exchange. With our front row tickets we got slightly more than we expected from the performance. The stage props and scenery looked quite basic covered in a large tarpalin giving little away. The four actors (3 male and one female who I had a sneaking suspicion I'd seen somewhere before) came out and introduced the play, a little nervously and perhaps a little straighter than I expected but with the male centric story this created a comedic tension which featured later.

The Ishmael character/narrator introduced himself with what sounded like a mock-Mediterranean accent and set up the first scene of the New Bedford bar. Superb slapstick, some clever prop work and some hilarious 'sexual tension' instantly won us over. From there the gags, comedy, songs and dancing got funnier, saucier and sometimes daring in taste but every scene and gag was like a masterclass in funniness.

The only female character had a number of costume changes including her mad woman with fake arm, a mermaid and a red-haired inflatable warning beacon (at a guess) but ran off stage hugging random people including myself. Her other character was a butch bloke who kept eyeing up Kerry whilst gesturing for a 'shag'. I've since found out with some web research that the female actor, Petra Massey had been seen before. She's the ship's humanoid computer on the BBC space comedy, Hyperdrive.

Other highlights were the extendable arms of the reverend in his prayer before sailing, Queequeg trying to deal with the stairs nearly brought me to tears, his magic tricks of levitating, the cast's sailor dance and the lift and hammer gag. The whale scenes were cleverly done using video projection and the final fight using a Lucha Libre or mexican wrestler scene. A little audience participation with sound effects brought the story to its natural end. Then a familiar song, Bright Eyes was sung by the cast shortly followed by a full male choir dressed as sailor extras. A heart-warming end to the best comedy theatre I've seen for years. More please!