Spyski!

BY Danielle Coxon
If you haven’t already, don’t read anything about Spyski. Don’t Google it. Don’t read the Arts Centre’s brochure (apart from to check the time). Don’t do anything. Part of the enjoyment of Spyski is that you genuinely don’t know what’s coming next, and even the slightest bit of info gives away too much. In fact, I think I’ve given away too much just by saying that - it is about spies, after all (that much I can say, the title makes it obvious), so secrecy is the best policy.

Not saying anything about a production makes a review quite difficult, so rather than giving a blow-by-blow account, I’m going to tell you what I didn’t expect to see:

Monty Python-esque ham acting
An interesting use of props (watch out for the hospital close-up)
A surreal dream sequence
Doubling or even tripling up of roles – the cast consists of only 5 people
A spy story that’s not a spy story but a spy story in a play not about a spy story – this is why you have to see it, if only to figure out why this sentence makes perfect sense
A lot of very random comedy, including my favourite line, ‘I’M VERY TENSE’, shouted in a similar manner to Brick Tamland’s ‘LOUD NOISES’ in Anchorman

The acting, by the way, is supposed to be overblown, especially in the first ten minutes, which may make you question what you have stumbled in to. The acting, and the ingenious props (which often have as many roles as the actors do) all serve to give it a thrown together style, which is exactly what the storyline requires. And it does demonstrate how good the actors are when they can play themselves so badly.

I could go into an in-depth analysis about how the fragmentariness, multiple personalities and actors playing themselves reflect the post-modern theatre that the Peepolykus company obviously immerse themselves in. But this would be far too fancy-pants and would detract from the fact that this is a very funny piece, done in a highly tongue-in-cheek manner, by skilful and underappreciated actors. The only sad thing about the performance was that the room was half-empty, which must be very disappointing for them in what is a very audience-aware show.

If you are a Bond fan, the show is probably even funnier. I say this because I got the distinct feeling that, having never watched a whole Bond film (shocking, I know), I was missing out on some of the spoof. But I think thespian types will get a kick out of the main Russian character ‘Stanis Lavski’, a nod to the famous Russian director/actor, whose system of acting is no doubt is rather tested here.

The show runs until Saturday, so if you haven’t seen Quantum of Solace yet, don’t bother. Go for two hours of complete randomness instead. Just watch out for the Chinese…