Flat-out anarchy is the order of the evening in the Big Telly Theatre Company's adaptation of Spike Milligan's comically masterful Puckoon, a crazy concoction of music, mimicry, mixed messages and multiple-character playing that constantly and hilariously satirises people, politics, professions and the written word. It strictly adheres to the central theme in the work of Milligan and Big Telly: don't ever try to make sense of them, because, believe me, you won't.
The key to enjoying this marriage of the legendary comedian and the Portstewart-based dramatists - a perfect match if there ever was one - is to let the idiosyncratic insanity and hyperactive humour wash over you, to the point where you will almost certainly leave the theatre with a grin on your face. And, maybe, with a few lessons learned too.
Puckoon is a revival, brought back to theatres all over the UK and Ireland in 2016 by popular demand. The production I attend is on April 16 at Derry-Londonderry’s Playhouse Theatre, which would have been Milligan’s 98th birthday, and a Puckoon-themed cake has been brought along to mark the occasion. Needless to say it goes down well with the numerous hearty, smiling faces at the interval.
Puckoon is the story of how a talented writer, very well played by musical director Paul Boyd, narrates and creates a plot, a lead character oblivious to this plot, a priest losing the plot, a series of locals getting in on the plot and a plot centred around grave robbery. There are no theatrical rules in this ever-thickening plot (there's that word again) apart from those which the writer and narrator makes for himself - rules made to be as broken as the titular fictional town is by external plans.
Because, in 1922, the Ulster Boundary Commission's decision to draw the new national border right through the town has caused divisions of all kinds. Drink is cheaper, the church and graveyard are separated, and Dan Milligan, played by Paddy Jenkins, is whining to the narrator (don't ask, just go with it) about what to do with his plot (there’s that word yet again) of land. It's like a tug of war between how a writer wants a character to act and how the character wants his character to act – in other words, the kind of muddle that occurs when more than one auteur tries to make their stamp on a single piece of work. Or, to put it another way, battles over leadership and type of leadership. Or, to put it yet another way, worthy of Monty Python in its mirth and message.
The tone and invention in that sketch pretty much sums up what the packed theatre gets here. The stage is full of very useful clutter, with a rack of clothes in one corner, a set of musical instruments in another, and a movable doorway complete with a door. Ideal, then, for livening up the countless caricatures played by the four additional actors on stage - John O’Mahony, Giles Stoakley, Patrick J O’Reilly and Keith Singleton - who Spike Milligan inspired and Dan Milligan will meet. The wit and wisdom of the former Milligan shines through in every song heard and in adept and unconventional portrayal on show, including a priest, doctor, major, local woman and trainee Chinese policeman. (Again, don’t ask.)
But the centrepiece of Puckoon is Boyd. His narration enriches the work as much as his musical compositions - while narrating can easily be seen as an expositional crutch, it's perfect for this story about a story. The bemusing and amusing moment when his otherwise dry and factual delivery becomes laced with confusion, as he tries to maintain pacing during a period of inaction for the other actors, is arguably the epitome of this highly entertaining work.
Simon Fallaha
Puckoon runs at Belfast's MAC Theatre until Saturday April 30 before touring the UK and Ireland until Saturday June 4.
