MISCHIEF Theatre, best known as the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong, are now out on the road with their first musical, a hilarious story by Jonathan Sayer and Ed Zanders, based on a number of Greek legends, telling how “acting” first started under the murderous eye of The Tyrant in ancient Greece.
It is very, very clever, and the more you know about those toga-clad Greeks, the funnier you will find it. It is also very, very noisy, as all sung-through modern musicals are, so you will need your sharpest ears to catch the many allusions and references and jokes over the background noise.
Performed on a super-flexible set designed by Jasmine Swan, it all starts as the Greek Chorus (before we knew we’d need them, and here, because of financial constraints, only two-strong) introduces us to a quintet of islanders anxious to survive under the tyrannical rule of The Tyrant, the all-powerful, irresponsible, irrational, unpredictable and totally selfish ruler of Greece – and the company managed to avoid any obvious references to our own dear POTUS.
The country has been suffering under a drought for months, and prayers for rain seem to have no effect. The crops have failed, animals have been sacrificed, and still The Tyrant has a daily bubble bath. Now the ruler has decreed a competitive gathering to find a new prayer to persuade the weather gods to open the heavens and let the rains come – this was all rather apt in Bath on Wednesday, days into the heat wave with warnings of ferocious storms, and the beautiful moon surrounded by rare noctilucent clouds … and no sign of rain.
Our heroic Ikarian islanders are determined to win the contest, and handsome and arrogant young Thespis (James Spence), talking to his friend Atlas (Luke Latchman), thinks he might have found the formula … putting yourself in someone else’s sandals (or acting, as it is now known). His bookish sister Polly is the person to write the script – on stone tablets, of course – but Thespis is not giving up the central role, and his friends, including the seer and village elder Melampus (Mia Jerome) and the preening prat Adonis (the comically poignant Marc Pickering) can see what’s coming. Fame will go to the Thespian golden locks – and the fates will have their wicked ways.
Matt Cavendish and Allie Dart have the hugely challenging roles of the Chorus, performing not only their heraldic roles but those of all the other prayer contest competitors, and Rhys Taylor is relishing every moment as The Tyrant, aka Michelle.
It’s all here – prophecies are fulfilled, birds take humans for a fly-past, death defeats and is defeated, gods get their way, drama and comedy and tragedy follow us all, and, underneath the subterfuge and boasting, all our lives are rubbish, one way and another. But in Thespians, hope springs eternal and it’s all fun if you don’t take yourself too very very seriously.
It’s a musical hoot, and one which leaves every member of the audience smiling … what more do we need in these dreadful times.
GP-W