Spamalot review, Harold Pinter Theatre

Ham a lot

Spamalot unwittingly encapsulates the zeitgeist, the spirit of our times. The people, places, props and scenarios that comprise this two hour madness are known to millions from the Monty Python films and TV series. The sketches and stories go back forty years yet, as King Arthur and his knights go in search of the Holy Grail - a quintessentially English adventure of derring do and sporting failure encased in sweet tunes and a vague love story, this musical is absolutely of the moment.

If Kenneth Branagh had arrived as Brunel, and nurses from Great Ormond Street had danced across the stage pushing kids in hospital beds, nobody would have batted an eyelid. How deep goes the spirit of Python in the English psyche. This is a world where medieval jousts and beheadings have an everyday normality with witty tunes that herald the sneering French, Lancelot's gay love affair and the travails of the Black Knight who keeps on fighting even after losing all his limbs. 

The role of Arthur changes throughout the run. Marcus Brigstocke currently leads the relay. John Culshaw then takes over. The role of King is more anchor than boat, and the star of this particular line-up is Bonnie Langford, another national treasure who was singing Good Ship Lollipop on Junior Showtime when writer Eric Idle was heading to Cambridge to make his name creating Python and a whole new genre of comedy. As the Lady of the Lake, Langford acts and sings with venomous glee, her rubber features squeezing humour from every line. Todd Carty as Patsy, the King's... patsy, runs her a close second for the honours. 

In conclusion: This musical is spectacularly silly and some of the singing is mediocre at best, but you'd have to be utterly humourless not to at least enjoy its cleverness if not the vehicle through which that cleverness is expressed.

References
Spamalot, Tickets
Quentin Letts review in The Daily Mail