Film / News
Monty Python and the Foley Grail returns for a five-night run in March
Saddle up that invisible horse and prepare to enjoy one of the funniest films of all time in a completely new way at this “silly show for silly people”.
On arrival at the venue, you’ll be issued with a box of delights with which to add your own sound effects. You’re also encouraged to dress up in character and shout out your favourite lines (i.e. all of them, if you’re a certified nerd). Holy hand grenades are presumably not included and the “only a flesh wound” severing of limbs is optional.
Yes, were talking about the second-greatest Python film: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A suitably grimy parody of the traditional mediaeval adventure, with plenty of swipes at those seemingly inexhaustible reserves of human gullibility and stupidity (the witch-hunting scene being a brilliant summation of zealotry and perverse logic), this 1975 classic suffers from an episodic construction, but at least these episodes are consistently funny.
You’re welcome to dress up like this, if you really must
Who could forget John Cleese’s astonishingly rude Frenchman taunting the grail-seekers from his lofty turret; the anything-but-brave Sir Robin (Eric Idle), whose minstrels sing joyously of his shortcomings; the Knights who say ‘Ni!’ and their shrubbery; and Cleese’s ludicrously bellicose Black Knight, who continues to taunt Lancelot long after he’s been deprived of every limb?
“My god – that audience looks even sillier than we do!”
For the uninitiated, ‘foley’ is the process by which sound effects are added to films in post-production. This latest series of ‘expanded screenings’ by Bristol-based Compass Presents, who specialise in imaginative interactive film events, offers the opportunity to contribute your own suitably Python-esque foley.
It proved a huge success at the Cube early in December 2021, when two screenings sold out very swiftly. Now Compass Presents are taking their hit show to the Wardrobe Theatre for a five-night run from March 15-19. Tickets, price £13/£11 (conc), are available here.
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