Peepolykus, Let the Donkey Go

Review in Issue 8-4 | Winter 1996

If the reception they received at BAC was anything to go by, Peepolykus certainly live up to their name. Which is hardly surprising, as Let the Donkey Go was purely entertaining. Imagine the Young Ones meet the Goons and you are on the right track. Javier Marzan, John Nicholson and David Sant are all masters of the visual comedy routine and in this show they pulled out all the stops. There were plenty of gags, lengthy streams of repetitive word play and the sort of convoluted and contorted narrative techniques you expect from this form of theatrical tomfoolery. The experience was sort of like being at a Pantomime, except not as annoying. The story was simple enough. A renegade soldier is on the run from a fictitious South American dictatorship. But it is not the story the audience come to see this company for. It is to enjoy the sheer stupidity of their comic performances. In fact the stupider the better. The highlight was undoubtedly a fast paced scene in which Marzan and Sant stuffed Nicholson's mouth full to bursting with biscuits and then showered the crumbs upon his head. Peepolykus succeed in pulling this sort of material off for the simple reason that they are all so good at it, possessing consummate comic timing and a nice line in comedy moustaches. This show did not provide the sort of 'danger’ that the BAC Festival promised. But it was a thoroughly diverting hour spent at the theatre and scored full marks on the laugh-o-meter.

Presenting Artists
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This article in the magazine

TT 8-4
Issue 8-4
p. 20