Latest news with #MontyPython-style
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South Wales Argus
Let Perform Chepstow's viral video inspire you to 'break a leg'
A CHEPSTOW community theatre group has struck viral gold with a Monty Python-inspired TikTok teaser that's racked up over half a million views. But for busy cast and marketing team member, Beth Riordan Francis, the real story isn't just the numbers. It's what they reveal about the power of local theatre to connect, entertain, and inspire. The video, a lo-fi behind-the-scenes glimpse into the group's upcoming production of Spamalot, blends absurd humour with genuine charm. It's part of a growing trend for Perform Chepstow, whose previous Beauty and the Beast campaign reached over two million views. 'People love the silliness,' says Francis. 'But what they're really responding to is the heart behind it.' The ensemble has made full use of local castle scenes to enhance the video's appeal. Now, Francis is using the momentum to call on locals to get involved - as audience members, performers, backstage crew, costume wranglers, and more. 'We're not just putting on a show,' she says. 'We're building a community. And we need people of all ages and skill levels to help us do it.' Spamalot runs August 7–9 at Wyedean School, Chepstow. Tickets and info at The cast of Spamalot includes volunteers aged 18 to 50+, many of whom balance rehearsals with jobs, studies, and family life. The production promises flying cows, musical knights, and plenty of Monty Python-style chaos. But behind the comedy is a serious commitment to making theatre accessible, inclusive, and joyfully collaborative. Perform Chepstow's viral success is proof that local arts can punch far above their weight. And Francis hopes it will inspire others to step into the spotlight, or lend a hand behind it. 'If you've ever wanted to be part of something creative, now's the time. Come help out, sing a song, or just cheer us on. We'll find a place for you.'
Scotsman
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Theatre reviews: The 39 Steps
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The 39 Steps, Pitlochry Festival Theatre ★★★ The Last Laugh, Theatre Royal ★★★★ In a world where credible futures seem in increasingly short supply, it sometimes seems as if cultural nostalgia is becoming our only jam. Rock music survivors from the 20th century stage ever-larger stadium tours, tribute musicals whisk us back to the 1960s or 70s; and here, in Pitlochry and Glasgow this week, are two stage shows which have their own special relationship with our cultural past. Alexander Service and Chris Coxon in The 39 Steps | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Patrick Barlow's brisk two-hour stage adaptation of The 39 Steps - first seen in London two decades ago - is probably best understood not as a version of John Buchan's 1915 novel, but as an affectionate send-up of Alfred Hitchcock's hugely successful 1935 film, designed to extract maximum laughs from the absurdities of extreme fringe theatre, as a cast of only four try to tell a story featuring at least 20 characters, with much help from bad hats, and worse facial hair. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To judge by Barlow's programme note for this year's Pitlochry production, he also intended his adaptation to add a little heart to what began as a brusquely masculine tale of Richard Hannay, a British imperial adventurer at a loose end, who finds himself in a desperate race to expose a deadly network of foreign spies before they catch up with him. And in Ben Occhipinti's Pitlochry production of Barlow's version - which follows and surpasses Hitchcock in introducing some female love interest to the story - Alexander Service as a handsome Hannay, and Blythe Jandoo in stylish Thirties form as all the women with whom he falls in love, both bring a real touch of romance to their performances. The problem, though, is that almost all other aspects of the plot are reduced to such Monty Python-style absurdity - as supporting actors Chris Coxon and Stephanie Cremona conjure up a bewildering series of dastardly villains and spoof Scottish peasants - that it becomes very difficult to attach any real meaning to the story. Liz Cooke's set is charming, with its little train circling the front of the stage to the upbeat strains of Vivian Ellis's Coronation Scot. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To my eyes, though, most of the comedy looks laboured and un-funny, in a post-1980s fringe theatre style that has had its day; and despite the best efforts of the actors - who received a well-deserved cheer from the audience as they took their bows - the show seems to me to lack momentum, and to be both less meaningful, and less seriously funny, than Barlow originally intended. The Last Laugh | Contributed There's a richer and more direct vein of comedy, by contrast, in writer and director Paul Henry's 80-minute play The Last Laugh, now on a UK-wide tour after its 2024 Edinburgh Fringe success. The show features a dressing-room conversation among three of Britain's most revered 20th century comedy stars; the great natural comedians Tommy Cooper and Eric Morecambe, and Bob Monkhouse, comedian and game-show host, who spent most of his life studying the structure of comedy. The Last Laugh follows other fine plays about comedy - notably Tom McGrath's Laurel & Hardy - in dealing with the strange, poignant relationship between comedy and death. Both Cooper and Morecambe died in mid-career, in the spring of 1984; and Hendy uses this fact to place all three stars in what turns out to be a dressing room on the edge of eternity. For most of its length, though, the show is a funny and fascinating exploration of comedy itself, as delivered by a generation of absolute masters. Damian Williams as Tommy, Bob Golding as Eric, and Simon Cartwright as Bob all make a brilliant job of evoking the special style and comic energy of the men they play; and they also bring an immense quiet skill to their handling of the play's huge range of emotional registers, from the daftly hilarious to the poignant, and finally to the tragic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Sky News AU
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘From New York to New Zealand': Net zero targets being ditched worldwide
Sky News host Rowan Dean says it is 'glaringly apparent' the Coalition must 'vigorously oppose' Labor's net zero policies. 'Within a few months, it will be glaringly apparent to the Coalition that they could and should have made the recent federal election about vigorously opposing Labor's energy policies and the insanity of pursuing net zero,' Mr Dean said. 'All around the world, from New York to New Zealand, net zero is on the way out. 'To make matters worse, as the Bowen climate and energy masterplan of green hydrogen fuelling a renewables superpower industry collapse into a Monty Python-style absurdist farce, and we learn that household electricity bills are to continue to rise dramatically - no surprise there.'
