Review: Monty Python is Alive and Well at the Overtime

Fans of Monty Python will have a great time at the Overtime Theatre's production of "Black: A Comedy of Bubonic Proportions" - a production which marks a promising debut for Morgan Clyde, who wrote the play as a first-time playwright, and Goodwin as a first-time director.

Even if you have never been a Monty Python fan, I am sure you will find a lot of chuckles and belly laughs in this show,

All the cast are excellent. Gina Hughes was hilarious as a cor-blimey Cockney serving wench whose wide-eyed expressions and make-up made her look like a refugee from a lunatic asylum or the Addams Family.

Guy Schaafs played the role of a lusty squire in true Monty Python fashion, while Jenny Taylor was superbly arrogant and aloof when she wasn't lusting after the minstrel Thomas (a bravura performance by Kendall Dunlap).

David Fenrich as Merek Binbury and Chris Champlin as Dr Simon Cudgel also turned in highly amusing performances, along with Joshua Gutierrez as Rhuff and the three supporting serving wenches - Deborah Basham Burns, Lisa Valle and Lani Engler. The latter three looked like they might have been dragged in from the French revolution (a subject I would love to see Morgan Clyde tackle for her next play).

Last but not least, praise should be heaped on Nico Gutierrez who spent the entire play as a corpse. I'm sure it wasn't easy having to lie still and lifeless for such lengths of time. The play reminded me to some extent of Joe Orton's dark comedy "Loot", in which the central characters have problems deciding what to do with a corpse. But "Black" has more laughs than "Loot".

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