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MONKEY! Very appropriately, the opening night of Monkey! this Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) was the first day of Chinese New Year. Billed as "A tale from China", many people are more likely to know of the tale by way of the Japanese version of Monkey ("Monkey Magic"), the cult T.V. classic of the late seventies. The history of the kind of stick-fighting simian hero represented in Monkey! is long and involved, and as a result this production has much more to it than at first meets the eye and ear. When flying about on clouds, cheeking Yama Queen of Death herself or effortlessly defeating gangs of evil demons in beautifully choreographed martial arts stand-offs (greeted by the gleeful shout "It's time to PLAY!"), Monkey delights as a cartoon figure. He farts like a foghorn, he looks forward to going back to his own Flower Fruit Mountain for some "rumpus", he leaves his signature in liquid form ("What! Monkeys can't write!") - small children love him. (They also get the chance to interact, as the production contains important pantomime elements.) Older minds can enjoy the slapstick whilst thinking on the significance of Monkey's epic journey to the Western Heaven with Tripitaka (the holiest monk in China), Pigsy and Sandy (humans transformed into monsters for their karmic mistakes) to collect sacred scriptures from Buddha. Tripitaka was a real historical figure who journeyed to India in the 7th century AD to fetch the Sutra from India, and the Monkey of the Mind appears in Buddhist teachings as a symbol of the restless mental energy that must be tamed before Enlightenment can be reached. This production is obviously born of very thoughtful roots, and the excellent programme accompanying it provides just enough detailed info on the Monkey tradition to leave you with a need to know more. Elliot Levey is a truly "irrepressible" Very Handsome Monkey King; if his accent is more Stavros than Sun Wu-K'ung, it matters not, as he blows you away with the sheer physicality of his monkeying about. Jan Knightley is an astounding Pigsy for similar reasons, and Jason Thorpe (spotted recently at the Phoenix Cinema as a policeman in the bizarre film "The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz") is also an excellently deadpan Sandy. Aicha Kossoko is a compelling presence as the scarily sexy Yama, Queen of Death, and the serene Father Buddha. The show must be very tiring for all the actors involved, many of whom perform amazing gymnastics. The costumes and set are ingeneous, and the pounding folky drum & bass soundtrack by the excellent Irish outfit Kíla will have you wiggling in your seat. Fans of martial arts, panto, circus, good music, visual and physical humour, Buddhism, acting, animals, life: get your tickets now. Su Jordan
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