In many ways, the sketch show can be the riskiest form of comedy. Not only do you have to write good material, deliver it well and roll with the overeager improvisation of your fellow cast members but you have to keep the pace rocketing along and be able to entice the audience back in after every dipping of the lights. Too often, otherwise decent troupes can lose it here, as the audience gets fed up with slow and clumsy scene changes and soon begins to lose interest. Since the theatre lacks the fast editing facilities of the small screen it would seem that this is unavoidable yet The Monkey Butlers are showing us a solution.
Instead of cutting off as a skit ends, this devilish four-piece keep it all moving and flow directly from one scene to another, often building the prop changes into the next act. This may seem like a ridiculously small point to dedicate so much space to but it is this conservation of momentum that will propel Monkey Butlers onto this year’s must-see list. Actually, that is amazingly unfair, as it is the actual material that makes the gaps worth plugging.
From the mildly off colour to the downright sinister, it is safe to say that The Monkey Butlers sense of humour verges on the subversive but in a delightfully upbeat way. Basically, they probe the darker corners of the subconscious without delving in far enough to make the laughs purely nervous reaction - so many other groups would screw up their clever divorce scene and it’s hard to contemplate anyone else even conceiving their Columbian diet plan. At worst, this show is merely rib-tickly but when they reach their highs it is truly hilarious.
4/5
Richard Biggs
