Review: Spamalot, Dartford's Orchard Theatre, Monday, April 4 to Saturday, April 9.

by Keith Hunt

At any moment during Spamalot - the musical "lovingly ripped off from Monty Python and the Holy Grail" - I expected a gangly John Cleese to walk on stage and demand: "Stop this sketch, it's getting too silly!"

But then silliness is what this production, written by Python original Eric Idle and John Du Prez, is all about - and we could all do with a bit of that in these austere times.

The first half of the show, based on the 1975 film was an absolute laugh-out-loud hoot, so much so I thought my face would end up contorted in a permanent grin.

It started with the bizarre Fisch Schlapping Song and hurtled hilariously along with a comical cadaver protesting he's not dead yet as he's loaded onto a cart of plague victims.

It spoofed romantic show tunes with The Song That Goes Like This in which Sir Galahad (Simon Lipkin) and that "watery tart" the lady of the lake (Jessica Martin) trill:

"Once in every show, there comes a song like this,

"It starts off soft and low and ends up with a kiss,

"Oh where is the song that goes like this?

"Where is it? Where? Where?"

Well, you get the idea. Just when you think your sides won't just split but explode like Mr Creosote in The Meaning of Life, along come the French soldiers with their tortuous taunts at King Arthur and his knights, breaking wind in their general direction and delivering my favourite line: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."

Monty Python the TV programme became something of a cult and was not everybody's cup of glee, but you don't have to be a fan to enjoy Spamalot.

Phil Jupitus, best known as a team captain on BBC2's Never Mind The Buzzcocks, makes a suitably risible King Arthur, who would probably be the first to admit he is not a great singer.

Todd Carty, of EastEnders fame, plays Arthur's coconut clopping servant Patsy and manages to look even more moronic than when careering out of control on Dancing On Ice.

Jessica Martin will be remembered for her spot-on impressions on TV's Copycats and Spitting Image but she has since transformed herself into a leading lady in the West End with her fine, soaring singing voice.

All the favourites are here, including the Knights who say Ni and the Black Knight who refuses to accept he is injured when his arms and a leg have been lopped off by King Arthur, declaring: "Tis but a scratch."

A gay Sir Lancelot coming out of the closet gives Graham MacDuff the chance to prance, preen and generally be outrageously camp before finding love with cross-dressing Prince Herbert (David Langham).

There is not much to dislike about this zany production, although it could have been longer and the needle on the laughter meter flagged a little in the second half.

Of course, it wouldn't have been complete without the audience being asked to add their voices to a rousing rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, from the 1979 film Life of Brian.

We were quite happy to round off a great evening's entertainment by giving a whistle when "chewing on life's gristle".