Whale of a time

There are knowing panto touches which have the audience acting as winds and waves in the remix version of the famous tale of one man's obsession. There are elements of burlesque and variety filtered through Pythonesque characters and situations. How clever, for instance, to have the narration from a native Spaniard with a less-than convincing grasp of English - so from the go the story is as unintelligible as many think the original Melville tome is.

But critical analysis aside, it is just so laugh-out-loud funny at every turn. The show has been created by the performers, Aitor Basauri, Petra Massey, Toby Park and Stephan Kreiss, with input from director and associate director Jos Houben, a Theatre de Complicite veteran, and Rob Thirtle.

Aitor Basauri continually conspires with the audience against Ahab (aka the actor manager star) and brings the timing of the best stand-ups to his job of narration with odd echoes of a certain waiter from Barcelona - and he is an awesome giant of the deep.

Toby Park, also responsible for the original music, pulls off the neat trick of combining the irascible chutzpah of Sir Donald Wolfit with The Carpenters (no, really) and Stephan Kreiss redefines the meaning of physical comedy with every step he tries to take. Wonderful.

Petra Massey is the most disconcerting and funniest nutter you're ever likely to see, combining it with authentic rapping, acrobatics and bizarre puppetry as well as penning and performing a self-penned vocal meditation on the chances of the ship's figurehead becoming pregnant. Magnificent.

The finale, which I won't divulge, is an absolute, gobsmacking knock-out, at once hilarious, uplifting and utterly ludicrous.

Go here for tour details, but it's at Northampton until September 26.

Thanks to all at Spymonkey and Royal&Derngate for co-producing yet another smash hit which made two hours fly by.