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THE FROGS

★★ ½

Royal and Derngate Theatre

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THE FROGS at the Royal and Derngate Theatre

★★½

“There’s some good and not-so-good slapstick, physical theatre and an all-round quirkiness.”

Spymonkey set out to update Aristophanes’ three-thousand-year-old play – historically, the first staged comedy and use of a comedic double act – and make it relevant to today. They have poignant reasons to do so and these are reflected in a sub-plot that runs parallel to the original. The new version is written by Karl Grose and Spymonkey “with massive apologies to Aristophanes” and is directed by Joyce Henderson.

The stage is set with an array of boxes and crates and paraphernalia. A revolve is set off-centre which is used primarily for comedic effect. A circular mirror is suspended from above, upon which an impressive moon image is occasionally projected (Lucy Bradridge, set & costume designer).

Spymonkey regulars Toby Park and Aitor Basauri are semi-god Dionysus (sporting a fine pair of Cothornos platform sandals – a nice touch) and servant Xanthias who undergo a trip to the Underworld to recover the poet Euripides. To help them on their way, they receive advice from hero Heracles (Jacoba Williams in a fetching muscled body suit with male accoutrements). So far so good, but then our heroes fall into “a scene between the scenes” and find themselves squeezed into a cupboard – the Spymonkey office – and from now on as they continue their interminable journey they slip in and out of their Greek characters and into a character-version of themselves. Jacoba takes on a variety of tentacled, flippered and multi-headed creatures for the heroes to overcome whilst doubling in the here-and-now as an American theatre impresario interested in producing the new show. The whole thing is very meta. But it’s also rather a mess.

Of course, there are laughs a plenty. Aitor is an exceptional clown and, as the Spymonkey dynamic duo establish themselves, he proves himself an able Lou Costello to Toby’s Bud Abbott. But there is too much: the running gag of Aitor’s ass (hee-haw), knowing winks to the audience, asides, adlibs. There’s some good and not-so-good slapstick, physical theatre and an all-round quirkiness. Jacoba tells us that the whole thing is as mad as a box of… well, you know… just as the plot dissolves into a psychedelic acid trip.

Spymonkey themselves mock the length and tedium of Aristophanes’ original monologues and character-Aitor tells us several times that he doesn’t like the ending of the play because it isn’t funny. It’s not a good omen for the second half.

Worthy of mention is the community chorus – the highlight of the show – who techno-tap-dance across the stage in fluorescent yellow cagoules as the frog chorus (Simone Murphy, choreographer). It’s a shame that this happens only the once but then Aristophanes set the precedent for that. Ribbit.


THE FROGS at the Royal and Derngate Theatre

Reviewed on 24th January 2024

by Phillip Money

Photography by Manuel Harlan

 


Previously reviewed at this venue:

2:22 A GHOST STORY | ★★★ | January 2024
THE MIRROR CRACK’D | ★★★ | October 2022
THE TWO POPES | ★★★★ | October 2022
PLAYTIME | ★★★★ | September 2022
THE WELLSPRING | ★★★ | March 2022
BLUE / ORANGE | ★★★★ | November 2021

THE FROGS

THE FROGS

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The Frogs

Jermyn Street Theatre

Opening Night – 16 March 2017

⭐️⭐️⭐️

“A pleasant show with a sprinkle of webfooted wickedness “

 

This version of The Frogs, loosely based on a comedy written in 405 BC by Aristophanes, is the UK premiere of the latest Broadway version of Sondheim’s rarely performed musical. It’s original adaptation by Burt Shevelove took place in a swimming pool at Yale University over 40 years ago. This version has been furthermore adapted by Nathan Lane bringing a modern feel to it.

Over the last forty years or so there have been a few attempts to revive the ‘rarely performed’ The Frogs, mostly with limited runs and often with very mixed reviews. Shows become ‘rarely performed’ for many reasons; they go out of fashion, they’ve not done well in the past, they’re too costly to produce or they’re just plain bad, so it was interesting to see what this sold out production would be like.

The show starts with a sparky little piece called  ‘Invocation and Instructions to the Audience’ – basically the do’s and don’t (‘mainly don’ts’ as the song says) the audience should adhere to. The first act continues with, as you’d expect from Sondheim, some good strong songs (excellent accompanying band too), and some rather fun and enjoyable scenes.

There are some clever one liners, such as Dionysos (Michael Matus) saying he only slayed Cerberus as ‘he’s more of a cat person’, and some ongoing Hell themed jokes, which do tire rather quickly. There’s only one main scene in which the frogs themselves make a big appearance, and they are a sinister looking bunch, I’d have liked to have seen more of.

The two leads, Michael Matus as Doinysos and George Rae as his slave,  Xanthias are both excellent throughout though Xianthias’ outfit did make him look a little like a monochrome version of Where’s Wally? Chris McGuigan as (mainly) Herakles was also very good – an actor to look out for in the future we think.

The first act is definitely a fun and enjoyable watch. The second act is less so. There seems to be few laughs and the plot gets somewhat tedious and overly long in places. There’s a contest in Hades featuring Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw, to decide who Dionysos should take back to the living world,  which drags on to the point where you’re willing Charon the boatman (played wonderfully by Jonathan Wadey) to push them all into the river Styx.

The set (Gregor Donnelly) for The Frogs is a little bit industrial looking but works rather nicely. The show itself features few props, those which are used work well, such as Herakles’ club made out of copper piping. Costume design consists mainly of black, what looks like gym wear, with occasional character costumes looking like they’re from the Ann Summers S&M collection.

A pleasant show, brought nicely up to date, with some sinister webfooted wickedness afoot – if only the second act had been as good as the first …

 

Production Photography by David Ovendon

 

The Frogs is at Jermyn Street Theatre until 8th April – the whole run is sold out – check directly with the theatre for returns.

 

www.JermynStreetTheatre.co.uk

020 7287 2875