Spymonkey, the UK’s leading physical comedy ensemble, is staging a three-hander adaptation of Aristophanes’ The Frogs, the oldest comedy in the world, with massive apologies to Aristophanes.
I had seen brief clips on YouTube of Spymonkey’s idiotic take on Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld at Vienna’s Folksoper in 2023 and presumed I was in for a riotous evening. I was bitterly disappointed.
Aristophanes (448-350 BC), a popular Greek playwright, wrote about 40 plays, of which 11 survive, the most famous being Lysistrata and The Birds. He provided audiences with a good box-office mix of slapstick, sexual innuendo and blasphemy. The Frogs premiered at Lenaea, one of the Athenian festivals of Dionysus in January 405BC and won first prize.
Dionysus, god of wine and drama, in despair at the state of the world, disguises himself as Herakles and goes down to Hades in search of the best playwright he can find. But who is the best writer of tragedy? Is it Aeschylus (the poet of religion) or is it Euripides (the poet of reason), both of whom have recently died?
Spymonkey’s artistic directors, Toby Park and Aitor Basauri, take on the lead roles, a classic comedy double act, which includes a slap-in-the-face music hall routine. Best of all, visually, is Park being stuck in a slinky tunnel.
Basauri imitates Marlon Brando screaming “Stella!” in A Streetcar Named Desire for no reason whatsoever. Jacoba Williams, playing Herakles, wears a naked male body suit which has all the male accoutrements.
Spymonkey’s The Frogs is dreadfully unfunny. I came out of the Kiln Theatre, wishing it was possible to see their version of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
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