Theatre / Reviews
Review: Living Spit’s Beauty and the Beast, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘A sharp, exceptional parody; about as fulfilling as theatre can be’
When Living Spit took to the stage yesterday evening, the self-described most physically attractive ‘Two-Person Comedy Theatre Company’ in the decorated history of North Somerset left little doubt as to the tone of their show.
Immediately descending into luxuriously portentous meta-narration, the performers – Stu McCloughlin and Harry Humberstone – terribly impressed by each other, quite literally “Mmm” their way between puffs of tobacco pipes. Their fatuous constant-agreement recalls irresistibly to mind exchanges between Bertie Wooster and Gussie Fink-Nottle.
The narrators find time within their hauteur to outline the key facts of the tale, and in doing so gently prod at the original text. We are introduced to a man, whose living is earned as a “non-specific merchant”. The man has a daughter, who perhaps you have guessed, is called Belle.
Rich with what can only be described as silly little dances, and garlanded with French mispronunciations, our story is played out as a two-hander. Of course, this involves multi-roling. When Humberstone needs to go from Beauty to The Beast, it is simply suggested to him by McCloughlin that he might step off stage “for this bit”. By exaggerating the logistical difficulties, Living Spit turns dramaturgical liabilities into comedic assets.
But for my money, it is the meta-narration that marks the comic highpoint of the work. The two men return to their pipe-smoking narrator characters, and explain to us that at this stage in the play they must lean on a technique invented by a gentleman named Sylvester Stallone: the montage.
Puns on the word Belle are a frequent trope, the most predictable of which is of course not fit for print. The script as a whole is a clever and pacey satire, written by McCloughlin and his late collaborator Howard Coggins, to whom this production is an enormous credit, as it is to director Craig Edwards.
McCloughlin is known to be an exceptional musician, and his singing voice shone throughout.
Beauty and the Beast is a sharp and gentle parody, a fundamentally literary work whose incisive jokes and God-awful puns create as fulfilling an experience as you’re likely to have in the British theatre.
Harry Humberstone in Living Spit’s Beauty and the Beast – photo: Paul Groom
Beauty and the Beast is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on January 22-24 at 7pm, with an additional 2pm matinee show on Saturday. Visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com for tickets.
All photos: Paul Groom
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