Comedy is very subjective, and despite reviewing predominantly Birtish comedians who occasionally test the limits of my sensibilities, I have never felt particularly excluded by British humour or comedy, until now occasionally leaving me more confused at the joke than in a position to laugh. No show has ever challenged me or made me feel more like a straight-laced, Fourth of July celebrating, Plymouth-rock landing American than Al Murray, Matt Forde and Sean Foley’s Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical. Safe to say, I was not the intended audience, but to their credit, the trigger warnings before the show did warn me. I wouldn’t go so far to say that this show is exclusionary - there is something for everyone to enjoy - but it isn’t as clever as it thinks it is.
Some figures are treated with kid-gloves to a larger degree than others
Overall it’s a spectacle, like a bunch of SNL skits smashed together into one larger show. Spitting Image is essentially a series of impressions of politicians and celebrities in puppet form that are controlled by puppateers accompanied by voice over actors. This particular musical has no overarching plot, but in its satirical way, Spitting Image could be poking fun the lack of plot that we are treated to in films nowadays, a joke within a joke. To fix the ‘fabric of society’, King Charles hires Tom Cruise to assemble a team of celebrities to fix the fabric of society before the connotation. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson plots with his allies to steal the crown and make himself king. The shallowness of the plot is simply due to how much Murray, Ford and Foley try to fit into the show. A majority of the show is devoted to mockery of public figures, the strongest part of the show. It really doesn’t need an overarching plot and the attempt to include one isn’t in service to the rest of the show. This is perhaps the one show where plot is completely unnecessary and not having one would improve this show dramatically. Holding the scenes together are parodies of well-known hits, that bring a razzle dazzle in their choreographed numbers by Lizzi Gee. There is some pandering that occurs throughout apart from the fact that this show is very much written for a liberal minded audience, but some figures are treated with kid-gloves to a larger degree than others. The impressions themselves are spot-on, and the skits are very well-written; the jokes don't necessarily saying anything new, but they tap into a familiar vein that we find humorous and it’s to the writing team's credit that they’ve managed to keep updating the show as events develop whilst managing to respect the history of Spitting Image.
In Spitting Image, the puppets are the stars of the show, a mixture of overexaggeration, association, and silliness to create their unique look. In his role as caricaturist supremo, Roger Law has created two main types of puppets; the small, marionette-like puppets like Tom Cruise or Putin and the half-bodied puppets that utilise the puppeteers’ bottom half as an extension of the puppet. Law has an uncanny ability to pinpoint the feature that needs to be exaggerated, whilst keeping them recognisable.
There are two sets of performers; the puppeteers who control the puppets onstage and the voice actors who provide the impressions of the public figures for the puppets. It’s an amazing feat of coordination between the two groupsl making the puppets mouths open at the same time as the voices, but also the rapid way that the puppeteers execute their trakcs; swapping between multiple puppets and costume changes in very short space of time. Puppets often require multiple people to make them work using a variety of techniques to bring them to life, making their movement look natural or silly as the performance calls for it.
This ‘musical’ has its strengths; it’s an incredibly fun evening out with an element of pantomime-esque catharsis. Like comedy and many other things, Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical is a matter of personal taste. I don’t take issue with the mockery from an ideological standpoint; in true British comedic fashion, Murray, Ford and Foley have taken a very equal opportunity approach in that regard, despite the pandering that occurs throughout. All in all, it’s just a bit of fun.
