In Spring 2007 Spymonkey made BLESS, a miraculously divine revue about the lives of saints. Their third collaboration with writer/director Cal McCrystal, BLESS was previewed at the Ticino Theatre Switzerland, Newbury Corn Exchange and Gardner Centre Brighton before a beginning a three-week residency at the Big Secret Theatre, Calgary, a sell-out success. It won best comedy, best musical and best female performance at Calgary’s Betty Mitchell Awards 2007.
The show combines the company’s trademark physical comedy with cabaret, dance, music, song, illusion, puppetry and video.
Highlights included:
“With Bless, a dastardly backdoor examination of the men and women we now venerate as saints, Spymonkey completes the trilogy of hilarity it began with Stiff and continued with Cooped… They display their ingenuity by playing to each other’s stregnths – Massey’s over the top delivery tempers Basauri’s understated comic timing. Bless’s genius lies [in] bringing down the godly to a human level… to laugh at what we hold sacred – and still hold it sacred” FFWD Magazine
“A riotous 70-minute reflection on spiritual matters in which nothing is sacred. We’ve got Mother Theresa trading blows with the Good Samaritan over who’s going to attend to the stranger by the side of the road; and Saint Bernadette who, whilst burning at the stake, displays a remarkable erotic ability in pole-dancing, and that’s just for starters. All a lot of fun and really well done. I must just mention Petra Massey who is a particular treat. There’s a childlike innocence to what they’re doing, the audience enjoyed it immensely.” Sharon Pollock, Homestretch CBC Radio, Alberta
“A kind of European Union of funny… laugh-out-loud funny, smart funny. Spymonkey have created a demented variety show hosted by actor-turned-priest Father Forbes Murdston who hopes to help three career criminals achieve spriritual salvation by acting in a play that recreates their crimes in a variety of biblical scenes, saints, (deliberately) bad European variety show musical and video numbers, and a finale that slays some of the most popular conventions of experimental theatre…” Calgary Herald
“The highlight of the cast is Park, who displays his delightfully altruistic priest with equal measures of honesty and lucid sarcasm… both identifiable for his naivete and hilarious for his sincerity.” FFWD Magazine
“There’s hardly a dry eye in the house. The audience are helpless with laughter, but Spymonkey leave no time to catch breath between scenes. ‘You couldn’t ever put it into words, you just have to see it!’ says an audience member after the show, wiping the tears from her face.” Zurichsee Zeitung
Performed by Spymonkey: Aitor Basauri, Graeme Gilmour, Stephan Kreiss, Petra Massey & Toby Park
Directed by Cal McCrystal
Costume Design Lucy Bradridge
Set Design Graeme Gilmour
Original Music Toby Park
Lighting Design Catherine Williams
Production Manager Tanya Peters
Production LX & Sound Andy Purves
Poster Design Tork
Studio Stills Photography Sean Dennie
Production Photography Bernhard Fuchs
Video camera & edit Murray Buesst