300 to 1 is the latest theatrical offering from Matt Panesh (or Monkey Poet). The evening is comprised of a 45 minute one-man re-enactment of the Zack Snyder and Gerrard Butler film 300, and a second half of more informal poetry and stand-up.
Doing a spoof of 300 is ground well trodden. YouTube is awash with parodies of the films crass and violent yet homoerotic nature; nearly every one of your fairly film-savvy friends will be able to say “this is Sparta” or “tonight we dine in hell” in a voice approximating Butler's gruff interpretation of Leonidas, and thats before we've even got to the unforgivable feature film Meet The Spartans.
But this performance goes beyond mocking the leather pants. It tells a story of a 15-year-old boy failing to get to grips with the underlying meanings of the war poems he is studying at school, when suddenly he is visited by the effeminately portrayed Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. The boy then uses 300 as a way of demonstrating to them that, actually, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori could be said with earnestness. Matt Panesh performs all of this with great timing and physical gags, while ultimately hitting home a truthful message that, if you enjoy action films like 300 on any kind of level, that it is a mildly right wing and pro-war viewpoint. It made me laugh, and it made me think. A joy to watch.
The second half of stand-up and poetry was similarly funny and thought-provoking, but felt flatter in energy by comparison. Panesh's poems and observations are a long way from being without merit (George Bush, Tony Blair, porn and killing babies are all touched upon to sickly comic effect) but this could have done with being the first half instead, i.e. a good warm up for his fantastic one-man play.
Overall, Panesh has touched on something quite unique. Mixing slapstick comedy, bawdy material, amazing audience participation and an unquestionable political standpoint crafts an evening that leaves jokes and ideas with you that will stick in your mind for a long time. A must see.