Laughs Aplenty

Immortality, Zeppelins, wise fish, Buddhist monks and the Chinese invasion of Tibet… There is a connection here - somehow - and all is revealed in Piggy Nero’s latest comic romp of an Edwardian beauty who travels east with her manservant Spunk to marry her officer fiance. An aircrash lands them in Shangri-La, where its immortal residents, deep in Tibet, are threatened by the invading Chinese Red Guard. Like a demented Lost Horizon, love blossoms, tragedy strikes and fish and chips are introduced to the land that time forgot.

Jamie Glassman, Clare Thomson and Matt Baynton dish out characters with wild imagination, in the process delivering a madly inspired version of Japanese sixties pop hit Sukiyaki, a full-out sumo wrestling match, and, writhing to the strains of a soft porn lesbian soundtrack, a human ibis whose skimpy leotard produces a glimpse of possibly unsettling partial nudity, even by fringe standards.

The costumes deserve a review of their own as designer Lucy Bradridge’s [correction: the costumes were by Rosa Cienfuegos] Edwardian gear, army uniforms and geisha robes are worthy of the National. With hints of The Right Stuff or an X-rated Ripping Yarns, there are laughs aplenty, but don’t let that distract from the fact that these are three talented dramatic performers who have done their research to produce a show that demands repeated viewing.

The Stage, 9th August 06