This production from the intriguingly titled Gonzo Moose company actually contains no reference to Hunter S Thompson or any animal of the Elk family, and no one has a bolt in their neck.
Image © Gonzo Moose Theatre
The show itself starts with another untruth, when a solo actor faces the audience in gloomy lighting and begins by saying that this show cannot be called entertainment; it is instead a spine-chilling farrago of gothic horror and other blood-curdling material. Of course, it isn’t.
It’s a brilliant headlong ride into a spoof of all sorts of creepy horror stories, with a loose connection to Mary Shelley’s book.
The three performers – one woman, two men – assault the audience relentlessly, and unfailingly comically, with all manner of crazed story lines – accompanied by much loud and doomy music; and they switch character, accent and costume constantly in pursuit of that end.
There is lots of daft 18th-century pseudo-science on the power of electricity to revive the dead, with satisfyingly crackling and sparking laboratory equipment to match.
But the main joy of it all is just the sheer verve of the performers, with approximately a gag a second, sometimes verbal, sometimes visual, sometimes with just a brief twitch of an eyebrow – and the level of comedy madness never drops.
I particularly liked the trio of talking gargoyles. Mary Shelley never thought of that! Imaginative comedic idiocy from start to finish. Lovely!
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Reviewer: John Christopher Wood | Star rating: *****
