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live recordings to stream
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2018)
Dickens's best loved tale brought to life in a madcap new version by Spymonkey, Ed Gaughan and Matthew Crosby.
Video on demand from £4
HYSTERIA/ COOPED (2019)
Revival of our longest-running show, recorded at Liverpool Playhouse, now in glorious HD.
Video on demand from £4
THE COMPLETE DEATHS (2016)
Spymonkey and Tim Crouch's hit show is now available for download or rental only.
Video on demand from £4
OEDIPUSSY (2012)
Greek tragedy as you've never seen it before.
Video on demand from £4
STIFF (1998)
Forbes Murdston enlists the help of a trio of undertakers to create a moving tribute to his dear departed wife.
Video on demand from £4
MOBY DICK (2009)
Spymonkey’s glorious mistelling of Herman Melville’s classic novel.
Video on demand from £4
OEDIPUSSY IN DEVELOPMENT: MAKING PHYSICAL COMEDY WORK (2013)
Rehearsal documentary, commentary and interview footage of the creation of Oedipussy, created with director Emma Rice and writer Carl Grose.
Video on demand from £8
live recordings on DVD
STIFF (1998)
Forbes Murdston enlists the help of a trio of undertakers to create a moving tribute to his dear departed wife.
DVD £10 (plus p/p)
MOBY DICK (2009)
Spymonkey’s glorious mistelling of Herman Melville’s classic novel.
DVD £10 (plus p/p)
COOPED (2006)
Laura du Lay arrives at a remote country house to uncover a tale of murder, love and mistaken identity.
DVD £10 (plus p/p)
4-DVD BUNDLE OFFER
STIFF, COOPED, MOBY DICK and OEDIPUSSY
25% off the cover price!
£30 + postage/packing
live recording details
SPYMONKEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL
SPYMONKEY'S A CHRISTMAS CAROL enjoyed record-breaking sell-out success at Liverpool Playhouse during its run in the winter of 2018-19.
The perfect Christmas show for lovers of laughter, music and Charles Dickens’s greatest story, brought to life in splendidly festive fashion by those artists of comedic invention and madcap delight, Spymonkey.
An HD version of the show is now available to stream and download on our Vimeo-on-demand page .
More details about the show on the Christmas Carol page here.
“Prepare for a treat... This inventively unhinged take on the seasonal favourite is a bonkers delight. Emotionally true to the spirit of the redemptive tale, yet its zany approach is so original and refreshingly free from sugary sentiment that it makes an invigorating tonic for festive fatigue."
★★★★ The Times
“For festive cheer drenched in irreverence, with all the best bits of Dickens, panto and Christmas pop culture, you can’t do better than this.”
★★★★ The Guardian
HYSTERIA/COOPED (2019)
AN ONCOMM AWARD FINALIST 2021
To celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2019 we revived 'Cooped', gave it some new bells and whistles ahead of its US premiere in Tampa, Florida, where it was relaunched as 'Hysteria'. The show has delighted audiences around the world for 14 years, including Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Just For Laughs Montreal, Tipi Berlin and London's West End. Created in 2001 with Cal McCrystal, this is a classic golden must-see for any Spymonkey lovers who have not had a chance to catch it!
“Made me laugh so much my throat hurt” ★★★★ The Times
Laura du Lay arrives at a remote country house to uncover a tale of murder, love and mistaken identity. Is the handsome Forbes Murdston insane? Is his mysterious manservant Klaus who he says he is? And are Laura’s terrible dreams a warning of further tragedy?
“A perfectly paced hybrid of the Pink Panther and Psycho” ★★★★ The Independent
In the best tradition of British comedy, from Monty Python to Fawlty Towers, Spymonkey's ‘Hysteria’ overflows with brilliant characters, visual humour, slapstick comedy, naughtiness and nudity – and features some of the funniest songs and dance routines you will ever see.
“One of the funniest pieces of theatre you will ever see” ★★★★★ Time Out
More about the show on the HYSTERIA page here
Recorded live at Liverpool Playhouse, June 2019.
84 minutes + extra features
Please note: This DVD is licensed strictly for private viewing only. For institutional, library, university, higher educational, school or college use please contact morag@spymonkey.co.uk to acquire an institutional license at £15+VAT.
THE COMPLETE DEATHS
★★★★ “A fabulous bloodbath” The Observer
★★★★★ “The funniest show about slaughter you'll ever see” Exeunt
There are 74 onstage deaths in the works of William Shakespeare - 75 if you count the black ill-favoured fly killed in Titus Andronicus.
They range from the Roman suicides in Julius Caesar to the death fall of Prince Arthur in King John; from the carnage at the end of Hamlet to snakes in a basket in Antony & Cleopatra; from Pyramus and Thisbe to young Macduff. There are countless stabbings, plenty of severed heads, some poisonings, two mobbings and a smothering. Enorbarbus just sits in a ditch and dies from grief. And then there’s the pie that Titus serves the Queen of the Goths.
“Extraordinary. Brilliant virtuoso physical comedy. Dark and disturbing. Hilarious” BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review
★★★★ “Inspired pairing of Spymonkey and Tim Crouch” The Stage
Spymonkey will perform them all - sometimes lingeringly, sometimes messily, sometimes movingly, sometimes musically, always hysterically. The four ‘seriously, outrageously, cleverly funny clowns' (Time Magazine) will scale the peaks of sublime poetry, and plumb the depths of darkest depravity. It may even be the death of them.
★★★★ “The Four Horsemen of the Ridiculypse” Libby Purves TheatreCat.com
Directed by Tim Crouch (I, Malvolio, An Oak Tree, Adler & Gibb) and designed by Spymonkey regular Lucy Bradridge, THE COMPLETE DEATHS opened in May 2016 at Brighton Festival to acclaim from audiences and critics alike, and has been delighting audiences around the world since then - a solemn, sombre, life-affirming and sublimely funny tribute to Shakespeare and death.
★★★★ “Maestros - Daft, ingenious and ultimately deeply thoughtful” Financial Times
More about the show on the COMPLETE DEATHS page here.
Recorded at Shoreditch Town Hall, September 2016.
STIFF
Forbes Murdston, the great tragedian, has suffered writer’s block for years. Now at last he has his own personal tragedy to draw upon. Following the tragic loss of his wife, he gathers around him an enthusiastic but totally incompetent troupe of actors to produce a moving tribute to his dear departed love. Mr Keller the embalmer, Alfredo Graves the pallbearer and Mandy Bandy the make-up artist are determined to make a night of it.
"You'll weep, but only with laughter" The Guardian
“The smartly silly conventions of a superbly skilful cast levitated me into a state of snickering convulsing and literally teary-eyed happiness” The Times
Spymonkey’s first ever show, created with writer/director Cal McCrystal in 1998, which launched the company on their journey to international success. It has won awards and delighted audiences all over the world, from Edinburgh to Houston, Calgary to Budapest, Mexico City to Taipei.
“Dark, edgy and very funny... Rooted somewhere between Monty Python, the Marx Brothers and Samuel Beckett” The Houston Chronicle
Total Theatre Award Winner 2000
Houston Press Award 2001
More about the show on the STIFF page here
Recorded at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Comedy Festival 2002
68 mins / PAL all-region DVD
Please note: This DVD is licensed strictly for private viewing only. For institutional, library, university, higher educational, school or college use please contact morag@spymonkey.co.uk to acquire an institutional license at £15+VAT.
COOPED
'Cooped' has delighted audiences around the world for 14 years, including Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Comedy Festival, Just For Laughs Montreal, Tipi Berlin and London's West End. Created in 2001 with Cal McCrystal, this is a classic golden must-see for any Spymonkey lovers who have not had a chance to catch it!
“Made me laugh so much my throat hurt” ★★★★ The Times
Laura du Lay arrives at a remote country house to uncover a tale of murder, love and mistaken identity. Is the handsome Forbes Murdston insane? Is his mysterious manservant Klaus who he says he is? And are Laura’s terrible dreams a warning of further tragedy?
“A perfectly paced hybrid of the Pink Panther and Psycho” ★★★★ The Independent
In the best tradition of British comedy, from Monty Python to Fawlty Towers, Spymonkey ‘Cooped’ overflows with brilliant characters, visual humour, slapstick comedy, naughtiness and nudity – and features some of the funniest songs and dance routines you will ever see.
“One of the funniest pieces of theatre you will ever see” ★★★★★ Time Out
More about the show on the COOPED page here
Recorded live at the Theatre Royal Brighton as part of Brighton Festival, May 2006.
80 minutes + extra features | PAL all-region DVD
Please note: This DVD is licensed strictly for private viewing only. For institutional, library, university, higher educational, school or college use please contact morag@spymonkey.co.uk to acquire an institutional license at £15+VAT.
MOBY DICK
Spymonkey’s glorious mistelling of Herman Melville’s classic novel.
“Gloriously anarchic, constantly entertaining” ★★★★
The Times
Created in 2009 with Jos Houben and Rob Thirtle, this was Spymonkey's first mid-scale production. The tour included Lyric Hammersmith, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman, Edinburgh Traverse and a 14-city tour of Holland and Belgium in 2011.
“The funniest show on any stage in Britain” ★★★★★ Birmingham Post
Four actors find themselves trapped in the belly of a literary monster. Will Ahab’s thirst for revenge be unhinged by the well-meaning but staggeringly inept attentions of his crew? Now that he has found true love, is Ishmael still fated to be the sole survivor of the Pequod? Can a mermaid figurehead get pregnant? And what does a cannibal harpoonist from Bavaria eat?
“Another fabulous creation” The Stage
“Genius“ ★★★★★ Whats On Stage
More about the show on the MOBY DICK pages here
Filmed at the Lyric Hammersmith 2010
97 minutes | PAL all region DVD
'They Don't Have Stairs Where He Comes From'
Audience voxpop at Lyric Hammersmith London
Please note: This DVD is licensed strictly for private viewing only. For institutional, library, university, higher educational, school or college use please contact morag@spymonkey.co.uk to acquire an institutional license at £15+VAT.
OEDIPUSSY
"JOYFUL" ★★★★ Critics' Choice The Times
"GLORIOUS" ★★★★ Critics' Choice London Evening Standard
"DELIRIUM" ★★★★ Metro London
Taking inspiration from Barbarella, Bowie, and a little bit of Bond, in 2012 Spymonkey created with director Emma Rice (Kneehigh, Brief Encounter) and writer Carl Grose (Kneehigh, RSC) an outrageous no-holds-barred subversion of the quintessential Greek tragedy. A tale of forbidden lust, accidental incest, violent murder and the ultimate dysfunctional family: a jealous father, a messed-up son, and one mother of a brilliant comedy.
“FOUR OF THE GREATEST CLOWNS WORKING IN BRITAIN TODAY” Time Out
In an attempt to escape their destiny as the creators of some of the funniest, riotously surreal work of the last decade, Spymonkey turn their unique brand of inspired theatrical invention to the greatest of tragic tales, to try to establish a legacy as the greatest tragic geniuses of their generation. Like Oedipus himself, however, they discover that eluding destiny is no mean feat.
“JOYOUSLY INVENTIVE RETELLING OF THE OEDIPUS LEGEND” ★★★★ Evening Standard
“QUITE RARE, QUITE WONDERFUL”
Libby Purves, Theatrecat.com
Recorded live at Brighton Festival at the Theatre Royal Brighton 2012.
111 minutes + extra features | PAL all region DVD
More about the show on the OEDIPUSSY pages here
Please note: This DVD is licensed strictly for private viewing only. For institutional, library, university, higher educational, school or college use please contact morag@spymonkey.co.uk to acquire an institutional license at £15+VAT.
OEDIPUSSY - MAKING PHYSICAL COMEDY WORK
A double DVD on the creation of Spymonkey's latest major work, giving a unique insight into the work of Britain’s foremost physical comedy theatre company and how they created, with Kneehigh artistic director Emma Rice and writer Carl Grose, OEDIPUSSY; their outrageous no-holds-barred subversion of the quintessential Greek tragedy: a jealous father, a messed-up son, and one mother of a brilliant comedy.
“Many congratulations on a superb job with the DVD package. It’s really nicely put together, a great resource. Watching you discuss your starting points, music and choreography, collaborative work and so on, with the rehearsal footage and key clips from the live production folded in to the discussion, is revelatory. That is really illuminating stuff, because it enables us to see the context, the process and the finished product in a fairly seamless way. It’s absolutely fascinating.”
Talia Rodgers, Head of Theatre & Performance Studies, Routledge Press
"JOYFUL" ★★★★ Critics' Choice The Times
Developed in association with educational media company Pumpkin Interactive, and created specifically with practitioners and academic study in mind - GCSE, A-level, performing arts colleges, university and postgraduate students, or indeed anyone interested in gaining an insight into the devising process of the UK's leading physical comedy theatre company.
"GLORIOUS" ★★★★ Critics' Choice London Evening Standard
"I love Spymonkey for the brilliance and precision of their clowning and the ripple of pure intelligence beneath the anarchic surface...Quite rare, quite wonderful, not to be missed.”
Libby Purves, BBC R4 Midweek / theatrecat.com
Includes interviews with Spymonkey artistic directors Aitor Basauri, Petra Massey and Toby Park as they lead the viewer through their unique collaborative creative process, from he first glimmers of inspiration to final performance and beyond: the influences on their work, the creative roles of director, writer and designer, and how they turned Sophocles’ most famous tragedy into a Bowiesque space ballad, an award-winning theatrical tour-de-force.
"DELIRIUM" ★★★★ Metro London
AVAILABLE IN DVD (PAL)
DISC 1
OEDIPUSSY full 3-camera version recorded at Brighton Festival (108 min)
Optional commentary by Spymonkey | Promo trailer 4’27” | Audience voxpops 2’24”
DISC 2
OEDIPUSSY IN DEVELOPMENT documentary on creative practice in Oedipussy (60 min):
Starting Points 11’43” | Music & Choreography 9’24” | Creating in Collaboration 7’12” | Writing Tools 15’07” | Killing Your Darlings 14’47”
GLOSSARY 30 min | REHEARSAL PREVIEW by Emma Rice and Spymonkey 2’28”
ADDITIONAL TEACHING RESOURCE PDFs: Teaching Notes | Full performance script | Full colour show programme
Games
What The Dickens! Card Game
Festive fun for all the family
Created by Spymonkey with illustrator and former children’s laureate Chris Riddell, this is a card game to warm the cockles of your heart!
Fun for all the family, and featuring favourite characters from Charles Dickens’ best-loved story.
The rules are based on the English card-game favourite 'Old Maid'.
Each pack contains 49 lovingly illustrated playing cards, 70mm x 120mm, in a presentation box.
A note from Mr Charles Dickens himself:
To the Esteemed Peruser of My Magnificent What The Dickens Card Game,
Bless my jiggit, you’re in for such a treat!
I invented this game as a suckling babe, dandled ‘pon the knee of my mother. In those days we’d often find ourselves in the dead of night with the bailiffs a-knocking at the front door. Oh Lor', what a commotion! My father at the window, whispering ‘Now children, who can play at mousey?!’ as he passed my mother the lesser Dickens progeny, and bundling the whole family into a waiting hackney carriage. We would slip away, as silent as a trout in a brown study, into the city night. In those halcyon days we would watch the streets of London slide by and fade until, our eyes bleary but our hearts soaring, those streets became the hop-scented lanes of Kent! Oh, we would play till we could do away with the oil-lamp and see by the glow in the east alone!
Little did I know that the characters of that game would, many years later, inspire me to write what would become my best-loved novel! The Cratchitt Family! The 3 Spirits of Christmas! Ebeneezer Scrooge & Jacob Marley! And a supporting cast of cheeky cockernay characters, lovingly rendered by that clever caricaturist Chris Riddell.
You will not be disappointed!
Yours,
For 3 to 6 players, ages 5 and up.
All proceeds from sales go to help sustain Spymonkey's creative and educational work.
Originally created in conjunction with Spymonkey's Christmas Carol, a co-production with Liverpool Playhouse 2018.
THE PERFECT STOCKING FILLER! ORDER NOW FOR DELIVERY BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
£10 (inc. VAT) + delivery
For bulk orders please email morag@spymonkey.co.uk for details.
Chris Riddell & Spymonkey's
GREAT SHAKESPEAREAN DEATHS
CARD-GAYME
PLEASE NOTE:
We are no longer taking orders for this game. In the UK the new colour Chronicle Books version is available from all good bookshops, and to order online from Blackwells.
In celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and in conjunction with our touring show 'The Complete Deaths', Spymonkey collaborated with illustrator, author, Children’s Laureate and all-round genius Chris Riddell, and our director Tim Crouch, to devise THE GREAT SHAKESPEAREAN DEATHS CARD-GAYME.
From Clarence, drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine, to Cleopatra and her asps, from Julius Caesar and the Ides of March to the black ill-favoured fly in Titus Andronicus, from the woefully tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet to the lamentable (but frankly pretty amusing) demise of Pyramus & Thisbe. And then there’s the pie that Titus bakes his guests…
Who had the greatest last words (and what were they?) Who enjoyed the slowest, most tedious death? Who had it coming more than anyone else? What was the most piteous death? Who just lay down in a ditch and died of shame? You will discover all this and more when you play THE GREAT SHAKESPEAREAN DEATHS CARD-GAYME.
In 2017 this card game was republished in a new full colour version by Chronicle Books. More information here.
