Spamalot

'I was there' when the Pythons revolutionised television comedy; I was also there, regretably, to see a rather tired and dull West End production of Spamalot. So it was with some foreboding that I journeyed to Long Eaton to see BMTG's Spamalot. I'm pleased to report that, contrary to my previous experience, this show was a delight.

Everyone on stage was on their mettle. Acting was clear and concise, singing was strong and hearty and dance and movement around the stage was fluent and confident.

Very much an ensemble piece with many of the large cast in multiple roles, all are to be thoroughly commended for their work in a show where probably only the Lady of the Lake gets a sizeable offstage break - which she duly laments in Whatever Happened to My Part! Kevin Chatten made a totally convincing King Arthur; lovely comic timing and confident rapport with the audience. Patsy was played with a friendly and pleasing simplicity by Rob Charles and Beth Yearsley was suitably histrionic and at times extraordinarily jazzy as the Lady of the Lake. 

The knights - Chris Collington (Sir Robin), Tim Yearsley (Sir Dennis Galahad), Simon Owen (Sir Lancelot), and Martin Holtom (Sir Bedevere) all deserve more than a mention, with each playing two other roles in addition to their noble ones - and in the case of Chris and Simon, directing the show as well! I especially enjoyed Chris Collington's French Taunter (a Brexiteer's friend if ever there was one) and Martin Holtom's performance as the unfortunate Concorde (thank goodness he got that message about insurance). And the rest of the cast - particularly the Laker Girls - worked their socks off to great effect.

An excellent orchestra was led by musical director Sam Griffiths who clearly did a great job with the cast's singing and some smashing dancing was created by choreographer Lucy Castle.

The set was very good and costumes helped the show hit exactly the right note.

The cast obviously had a lot of fun putting on this show but any temptation to be self-indulgent (which I guess could be a major pitfall in the case of Spamalot) was studiously avoided, resulting in a throughly entertaining crowd-pleaser of a show. Very well done!

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