FOUR SHIRES v THEATRE


enchanting today…as the packed theatres of the current UK tour is consistently proving.


In the role of the King at Oxford was Ramon Tikaram who eschewed the ‘Yul Brynner look’ in favour of keeping the fine head of hair familiar to TV viewers who have seen him as Qadim Shah in East Enders or in numerous other TV shows covering the wide spectrum from children’s TV (Jackanory) through comedy (The Mighty Boosh) to ‘hospital soaps’ (Doctors, Holby City), courtroom drama (Judge John Deed) and gritty crime stories (Silent Witness). Full head of hair notwithstanding, Ramon was as comfortable in the role


OEDIPUSSY - BY SPYMONKEY


NORTHAMPTON ROYAL & DERNGATE


Spymonkey is one of the world’s most innovative small theatre groups, best-known for its ‘off the wall’ interpretations of familiar subjects such as their frantic version of Moby Dick. The group consists of Toby Park, Petra Massey, Aitor Basauri and Stephan Kreiss, four truly accomplished actors with particular skills in the physical aspect of theatre. This year it was Greek tragedy that got the Spymonkey treatment in another ‘Made In Northampton’ co-production with Royal &


Trust Spymonkey then to use it as the subject for an evening of frantic comedy!


According to the myth, Oedipus was the son of the brutal Laius, King of Thebes, and his beautiful wife Jocasta but he was abandoned as a baby after his father had consulted the Oracle at Delphi and been warned that his expected son would eventually kill him, marry his wife and bring disaster to the state! But the shepherd charged by Jocasta with taking the baby Oedipus into the mountains and leaving him to die couldn’t bring himself to do so. Instead he passed him on to another shepherd in Corinth, where he felt the baby would be safe.


part of the Oracle’s prophecy. The only witness was a slave who fled the scene, thus allowing Oedipus to continue on to Thebes. There he met the beautiful widow Jocasta and fell in love - obviously with no idea of his true relationship to her. Within a short time they were married and had four children. Part Two of the Oracle’s prediction had been fulfilled.


But after some years, the missing slave came forward with evidence about where and why Laius had been murdered and the two shepherds also confirmed that Oedipus had indeed been abandoned in Thebes and adopted in Corinth. With that came the awful realization by Oedipus that the man he had killed in the quarrel at the crossroads was none other than his true father. And then, of course, he and Jocasta - his wife and his mother - had to come to terms with what they had subsequently done.


It was all too much for Jocasta, who committed suicide by hanging herself. Finally in the Sophocles version of the play Oedipus took a pin from her gown and put out his own eyes to avoid the seeing what he had been responsible for.


of the King as you would expect an actor of his experience to be and in as fine voice as you would expect from a singer who has played one of the lead roles (Judas Iscariot) in Jesus Christ Superstar.


Playing opposite Ramon in the leading female role as Anna was Josefina Gabrielle and hers was the ‘stand out’ performance of the night. Not surprising since she is one of the most active stars on London’s West End stages, with awards and award nominations too numerous to mention.


Backed by a talented cast, this leading pair made The King and I an enjoyable evening indeed and well worth a trip to Birmingham’s Hippodrome.


Derngate. Oedipussy is the group’s interpretation of the original play by Sophocles titled Oedipus the King. The name of Oedipus is familiar to most people - mainly thanks to Sigmund Freud drawing upon it to extrapolate his ‘Oedipus complex’ theory that many psychological problems in males emanate from an unconscious fixation on the mother figure.


But there’s a lot more to the ‘Oedipus legend’ than loving your mum a bit too much. The story of this mythical Greek king is one of the most disturbing in the Greek tragedy canon and includes child abandonment, mysticism, murder, incest, suicide and self-maiming as it unfolds.


That was the case and the foundling was raised as their own son by the childless King and Queen of Corinth. But, as a young prince, Oedipus went to Delphi to consult the Oracle himself and was, of course, told that he would murder his father and then marry his mother. Thinking these to be the King and Queen of Corinth, he left their court rather than take the chance that these awful things might happen there.


His travels took him on to Thebes and on the way he fell into a ‘road rage’ quarrel with none other than Laius over which of them had the right of way at a crossroads. With no idea that he was fighting with his real father, Oedipus killed Laius…thus fulfilling the first


So how does one review a comedy based on a tragedy so unremittingly depressing? Simply by saying that it was the funniest thing I’d seen in years and I’m still laughing at some of the remembered moments. Just about every comedic device you could think of was used in Oedipussy… slapstick, farce, wild and crazy costumes straight out of Flash Gordon or Roger Vadim’s sex and space romp Barbarella, life-sized stick puppets, corny old leper jokes, bungled costume changes, rubber blood patches, holes inadvertently kicked in the set’s backdrop…. Just think Sophocles by way of Monty Python!


The show is now on tour around the UK and can be seen at the Corn Exchange in Newbury on April 24th and 25th. For more details go to www.spymonkey.co.uk


MARCH 2012 v FOUR SHIRES 67


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