Spamalot

I am not a huge Monty Python fan, but I do enjoy the silliness of their work and it is a long time since I have seen this show, so I was looking forward it.

The open stage welcomed us, and the scenery was extremely effective.  Once started it followed the familiar lines of the show with good strong performances from Martin Harris (King Arthur) and Ali Fudge- Smith (Patsy).  Both these roles are iconic and the actors proved worthy of them!

As the show progressed I got the impression that some members of the cast were not very familiar with the Python genre and, as a result, some of the delivered dialogue did not give us the opportunity to appreciate that.  I would totally recommend that members of a company doing this show take the time to look at some film footage to understand the way dialogue is delivered.  It makes a big difference!

All the Principles were good with the four Knights; Sir Robin (Marty Doyle) Sir Lancelot (Simon Bristoe) Sir Galahad (Jamie Fudge-Smith) and Sir Bedevere (Michael Plant) all having their own character.  As they all, also, played numerous other parts in the show, with excellent and different characterisations, they all worked hard and gave great performances.

Kerry Cooke played the Lady of the Lake and displayed a terrific vocal range and good characterisation.

Callan Dobson played Prince Herbert beautifully and with a, really, impressive vocal range plus two other parts which were completely different.  Jon Keeler played Sir Galahads mother and really captured the Pythonesque character well.  He also played a couple of other parts, yet again with completely different characterisation.

The Ensemble played a large variety of parts and they all worked, really, hard to make sure that their characters were as different as possible.  This was a relatively small cast and the costume changes alone, to cover all the parts, must have been very challenging.  In the main the costumes were right for the show, but there were a couple which were much too simple for the concept.  That was a shame as they stood out for the wrong reason!

It is a shame that some of the lighting did not seem to be right, the opening number, Fisch Schlapping song, had half the cast in darkness for the last part.  There were several other instances of a lack of lighting on the performers, which is such a shame when they are giving their best.   The mics were not always turned up on time to catch the first line of dialogue and this must be very frustrating for the performer.

Overall, I enjoyed the performance and my thanks to Jess for our welcome and for looking after us so well.

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