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July 2011. Humanzee - The Reviews.
From Theatre-in-Wales's David Cox.
What is there to do in Cardiff in July? No football, no rugby, Glamorgan are not worth watching, the castle is full of tourists and the shops full of schoolchildren. Well, thank gooodness for the Cardiff Comedy festival. After a quietish start it is attracting bigger names, Ardal O'Hanlon. Richard Herring, Craig Campbell and others trying out their pre-Edinburgh material. However, it also gives you the chance to support some potential stars of the future with lesser known, more local acts. Enter Inky Quill Productions.
This Cardiff based group was formed in 2009 with the intention of bringing comedy to a non-theatre-going audience. The success of last year's "Death & the Monster" allowed writer Rick Allden to produce a sequel "Humanzee" featuring the two main protagonists. Again, the audience was warmed up nicely by Dan Mitchell, showing why he is currently fighting his way through ITV's " Show Me The Funny". Even if some of his material was used last year, it was still funny.
Soon we were back in the safe hands of eminent surgeon Tobias Flavian ( who Dr Who-like has re-generated into the body of Jon Holcroft) and his trusted side-kick Colin. Flavian's fall from grace resulted in their removal to the other side of the pond allowing the writer to transfer jokes at the expense of the Scots to our American cousins.
Macho feminist,vegan and animal lover Betsy convinces Flavian to pursue the American equivalent of the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot. Along the journey they encounter the might of the American army and Flavian's long-lost brother Jebediah, as well as Bigfoot himself, when Dan Mitchell re-appears showing what a method actor he is by growing a hairy back for the part. If this sounds a lot of plot don't be alarmed. As you would expect from a Rick Allden play there are laughs, big and small throughout the ninety-minute piece.
Whilst Jon Holcroft and Alan Humphries deftly create the best fictional double-act since (whisper it) Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson, Laura Jeffs showed her versatility once more. In the previous play she perfectly played a mute fat woman and last month she beautifully played Juliet at the Gate Theatre with Bareknuckle Theatre. But it was whenever George Goding and Chris Earnshaw entered that you could feel the audience relax as they knew big laughs were on the way. The former played the archetypal gun-toting Uncle Sam until he opened his mouth and produced a voice that made Allen Carr seem butch. Definitely a 'kiss first, ask questions later" kind of guy. Last year Chris Earnshaw grabbed your attention with a huge beard and a broad Scottish accent. This year it was his eyebrows and evil laugh which dominated proceedings.
Not a huge amount of big set-pieces but I particularly enjoyed the unexpected brief musical moment, Flavian's regression into his childhood with Colin in a dress (& relishing it) & Jebediah in a bee costume. It definitely stands alongside last year's play and it deservedly puts Inky Quills into the Cardiff Comedy festival spotlight. Plenty more to come from this group, catch them in small theatres while you can.
From Theatre-in-Wales's Michael Kelligan
Humans have probably been preoccupied with the humanzee , a creature half man and half chimpanzee, several hundreds of years ago, from the moment the human brain was first able to comprehend the possibility of such a creature. In 1927 an experiment was carried out by a ‘mad’ Russian scientist fertilising a chimpanzee with human sperm to try to create such a creature. The improbability of all this has given birth to Inky Quill’s amusing and quirky production.
Underpinning the company’s connection with the Cardiff Comedy Festival the proceedings kicked off with five minutes of excellent stand-up from Dan Mitchell on the subject of man and his animal connection. Later in the play he was able to confirm that such a man/chimp hybrid did in fact exist and quite a canny creature he turned out to be. He was very funny and had a warm, relaxed and disarming style that was the keynote of the performances of all the cast. He quietly delighted the audience who willingly set off on this Milliganesque adventure with him.
The disgraced anatomist, Tobias Flavian, though we never learned how that disgrace came about, had recently failed to indentify the Lochness Monster (as seen in the company’s previous jolly outing Death and The Monster) but now within the heights of Yellow Stone Park he was to regain his reputation by discovering ‘Bigfoot’. Jon Holcroft brought his English good looks and an engaging aristocratic bewilderment to the role. His even more bewildered sidekick, Colin gave Alan Humphreys the opportunity to elicit some uproarious laughter as both song and dance man and expert and endearing comic feed. As the story progressed it became difficult to tell which was the sergeant and which the corporal.
The first monster they came across was the brave rifle-carrying, bullet-belted American Army sergeant all rolled in to the fearsome yet affable Uncle Sam, a very captivating and affable performance from George Goding. Fortunately we discover later in the play he is very reluctant to use his gun, bullets do fly off in all directions but no one is harmed. This, the only bit of strong dramatic action in this calmly revealed carry-on was brought about by the appearance of Tobias’ twin brother Jebediah , another appealing and eyebrow raising performance from Chris Earnshaw.
The strong guy in this befuddled tail was Park Warden Betsy who had brought Tobias over from England to build a great reputation for both of them. Here we had a cool, captivating performance from Laura Jeffs. Dan Mitchell’s contented Bigfoot joined the befuddled quintet and it all ended in bananas.
The cast enjoyed telling this huge ridiculous joke and in a remarkably friendly manner ensured that we, the audience enjoyed the joke with them, In fact we all became such good friends that I hesitate to remark on some of the slow inter scene moments that slowed things down a bit and the odd occasion of naivety but this young company is certainly sowing seeds that would appear to signal a flourishing future.
Death & The Monster Highlights Reel released.
Death and the Monster audio track released and available in full, free and fr...over on the 'Audio/Visual' link.