Spamalot

Shamelessly plundering the best scenes from Monty Python’s The Holy Grail Spamalot takes us on a brightly coloured panto stroll through the dark age kingdoms of Britain.

Behold, the terrifying Knights of Ni, outrageous cow flinging Frenchmen and animated plague victims. Bottom boiling, elderberry scented aficionados, of whom the theatre is tightly packed, greet each familiar scene with the same gleeful relish as they once did in their weed laden student lounges.

However, the homage isn’t entirely slavish to the original. Many nuances and touches are different. Panto style looks and slapstick extend into sequins and razzle dazzle to have a good old poke at the formula of modern musicals, with some routines like the ‘Knights of the Round Table’ warping into big Broadway style musical numbers complete with dolly girls.

King Arthur is played by satirical stalwart Marcus Brigstocke, who as well as hitting us with some deadpan ‘we’re really looking for the grail within us’ musical metaphors also sings pretty well too. His glittery love interest is the lady of the lake herself, played by Hayley Tamaddon, who proves she’s no watery tart thanks to one hell of a powerful voice.

The rest of the cast are equally good, whether it be the diabolically flatulent Frenchman played by Graham MacDuff or the loyal coconut shell wielding Patsy played by Todd Carty (Mark Fowler off Eastenders), they all seem to be have a good time of it. Including some straight face testing ad libs and current gags ranging from Lembit Opik to SuBo and an audience member who looked like Harold Shipman.

There’s plenty of stuff here for Python fans and musical thesps alike, not all the humour from Eric Idle’s pen quite works out but on the whole it’s pretty good fun.

Spamalot plays at Nottingham's Theatre Royal from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 June 2010.

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