Reviews-Spyski
April 16, 2009
Reviewed: April 15th, 2009
Venue: Northern Stage, Newcastle
The announcement across the theatre asks us to take our seats for The Importance of Being Earnest and when the curtain rises for the first few minutes we are watch a rather frantic version of Wilde’s play.
Then, when a voice from portable walkie-talkie booms out and a man, dressed in black and wearing a balaclava jumps up waving a gun from the front row, all sense flies out of the window and the fun begins.
This is the first visit by Peeploykus to Newcastle and judging from the reaction of the audience it will not be the last. The production is actually a joint venture between Peepolykus and the Lyric Hammersmith in association with the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Once the Wilde play is stopped in its tracks Spyski can start in earnest (pun intended). As in all good comedies and farces, while the show progresses you accept what is presented and it all seems to make perfect sense. Thinking about it afterwards though is a totally different matter.
In Spysky we are presented with a story about an actor, John Nicolson (also the writer) who ends up sharing a hospital room with a poisoned Russian spy. This leads him to travel the length of Britain with a nurse and a baby who cannot cry, leaving his fellow actors having to recast the Importance of Being Earnest.
Throw in to the mix Johns’ wife who is not all she seems to be, dream sequences aboard the sleeper train to Scotland and the threat of the baby’s DNA being used as a way to make clones and you have an action packed show and an understanding as to why it works in the confines of the theatre but not afterwards when you think about it.
Apart from the excellent small cast (John Nicholson, Javier Marzan, Rhona Croker, Flick Ferdinando and Paul Mundell ) who play countless parts between them, the unsung heroes here are the unseen backstage crew who make this show work as much as the cast, as there is a lot going on all the time and the pace rarely lets up.
While there are plenty of laugh out loud moments and it is never dull, I would have preferred the production to have been shorter and without an interval. This would have allowed for some of the jokes which slightly miss the mark to be cut and the action to have flowed without having to pick up after the intermission.
This show has to be seen to be believed and I doubt anyone will be disappointed by the production unless of course, you really did want to see the Importance of Being Earnest.
John Dixon
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