Spymonkey's Moby Dick

Spymonkey and Glynis Henderson Productions

SPYMONKEY’S MOBY DICK
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH GLYNIS HENDERSON PRODUCTIONS
A SPYMONKEY AND ROYAL AND DERNGATE, NORTHAMPTON CO-PRODUCTION

Lyric Hammersmith Main House
20 April – 01 May 2010
Press Performance: Friday 23 April, 7.30pm

Following a critically acclaimed national tour, the international comedy sensation Spymonkey brings its own glorious mis-telling of Melville’s epic Moby Dick to the Lyric Hammersmith for its London debut, running from 20 April.

Trapped in the belly of a literary monster, four whalers ponder the irony of their fate as they recount their own unique version of the tale of Moby Dick. With fantastical flourishes and inspired invention, it is the greatest mis-telling of Herman Melville’s classic. Spymonkey’s award-winning brand of comedy is overflowing with brilliant characters, outrageous naughtiness and a delightful lack of respect for theatrical convention.

Spymonkey have proved to be a truly international phenomenon having performed in more than 20 countries from the US, Canada and Mexico to Syria and Taiwan. Their unique blend of physical comedy and explosive surrealism made them the uproarious highlight of Zumanity – Another Side of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. Over the last three years, they have been the smash hit of Brighton Festival, Just For Laughs Montreal, Melbourne Comedy Festival and have enjoyed two sell-out London seasons with their pulp gothic romance Cooped. More recently in December 2009 Spymonkey’s Toby Park and Petra Massey starred with Ronnie Corbett and Sandi Toksvig in Christmas Cracker at the Royal Festival Hall, London and the company starred in Miss Behaves Variety Nighty at The Roundhouse in London.

Spymonkey’s Moby Dick
Lyric Main House
Dates 20 April – 01 May
Evenings Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Matinees Sat 2.30pm
Tickets £10 - £25
Bookings 0871 22 117 22 / www.lyric.co.uk

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19th August 2009


Spymonkey and Royal & Derngate Northampton present

Spymonkey’s Moby Dick

Directed by Jos Houben

UK tour: 18th September – 7th November 2009


One of the funniest pieces of theatre you will ever see…a beautifully crafted melodrama packed with physical humour, silliness and exquisite performances. If there’s any justice in the world, these guys will be given their own TV series.
Time Out on 'Cooped’


In a glorious mis-telling of Herman Melville’s classic, four actors find themselves trapped inside the belly of a literary monster. As they contemplate their fate they recount the story of Moby Dick, updating the novel’s epic examination of good, evil, fate and obsession with more profound considerations, such as whether a mermaid figurehead can get pregnant or what a cannibal harpooner from Bavaria eats.

Utterly infectious....a perfectly paced hybrid of The Pink Panther and Psycho
The Independent on ‘Cooped’

In the latest of four internationally acclaimed and award-winning productions, which have left audiences in over 20 countries weeping with laughter, and garnered undiluted comparisons with the likes of Monty Python, the Marx Brothers, the Goons and the Carry On films, Spymonkey is throwing its high octane, explosively surreal bag of tricks into the hold and setting sail on an Autumn tour.

The smartly silly inventions of a superbly skilful cast levitated me into a state of snickering, convulsing and literally teary-eyed happiness … I nearly died laughing

The Times on ‘Stiff’


Once again, this hugely skilled quartet of performers will be blurring the boundaries between comic styles with side-splitting results. Throw in some hilariously inventive musical numbers, the odd horn-pipe dance, some fantastical costumes and batten down the hatches for a delightfully anarchic voyage into lunacy. Thar she blows!

Spymonkey is an international team, comprising founder members Aitor Basuri, Petra Massey and Toby Park, (who met whilst working with Swiss action-theatre company, Karl’s Kuhne Gassenschau) and Stephan Kreiss. From their first show, STIFF, in 1998 which claimed the Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Company has continued to represent the best in contemporary British comic entertainment. In 2003, the Company took time out from touring to join Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, for ZUMANITY, their burlesque cabaret. Over two years they performed over 900 shows to half a million people. More recently COOPED was the smash hit of Brighton Festival, Just For Laughs Montreal, Melbourne Comedy Festival and performed two sell-out London seasons - the laughs just keep coming.

SPYMONKEY’S MOBY DICK sees them team up with writer and director Jos Houben, an original member of Complicite, director of The Right Size for 10 years and a professor at The International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq. His recent work includes Peter Brook’s Beckett Fragments and his hugely successful one-man show, The Art of Laughter. The show also features original music by Toby Park and the wildly inventive talents of Lucy Bradridge (costume and props) and Graeme Gilmour (stage design).

ENDS

Website: www.spymonkey.co.uk/mobydick/mobydick-frameset2.htm

Press enquiries: Anna Arthur/Peter Leone at Arthur Leone PR on 020 7637 2994 or info@arthurleone.com

Tour dates :
Autumn 2009

Fri 18 - Sat 26 Sept Royal & Derngate, Northampton

Tue 29 Sept - Sat 3 Oct Nuffield, Southampton

Mon 5 - Wed 7 Oct Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

Thur 8 - Sat 10 Oct New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

Tue 13 - Wed 14 Oct Bristol Old Vic

Sat 17 - Sun 18 Oct Brighton Comedy Festival, Corn Exchange,

Tue 20 - Sat 24 Oct Liverpool Playhouse

Mon 26 - Wed 28 Oct Warwick Arts Centre

Thur 29 - Fri 30 Oct Canterbury Festival, Gulbenkian Theatre

Mon 2 - Wed 4 Nov Weston Studio at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff

Thur 5 - Sat 7 Nov The Dukes, Lancaster