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Theatre Pops takes on a Python classic

The dog days—they’re here. Heat so blinding and relentless that rational thinking becomes a massive feat. Endless hours with restless children. Nothing to do but get as naked as permissible and as ridiculous as possible.

Blessed are those who bring us farce in such moments. The genre celebrates the absurdity of human existence with improbable plot twists, exaggerated characters, larger-than-life situations and broad humor. It’s the funhouse mirror-image of tragedy, the gift of laughing at the preposterous nonsense of it all.

Farce has a rich history, from the satyr plays of ancient Greece all the way to “I Love Lucy” and ludicrous YouTube videos. Perhaps the greatest 20th-century practitioners were Monty Python, whose films and TV sketches were the epitome of silliness.

Enter (God be praised!) Spamalot. “Lovingly ripped off” from 1975’s “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the 2005 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical by original Python member Eric Idle toured here in 2013. It returns August 7-23 via Theatre Pops with an all-local cast and crew at the PAC’s John H. Williams Theater.

Theatre Pops itself was born in farce. Founded in 1989 as a group specializing in sex farces like No Sex Please, We’re British and A Bed Full of Foreigners, the troupe began a more serious trajectory when the late, legendary Ken Spence and Randall Whalen took over, producing plays by the likes of David Mamet and Tracy Letts, whose August: Osage County earned them first place at the 2015 TATE Awards. But it has always kept one foot in the “camp,” as it were, with productions like Tinkerbell is Dead and Bard Fiction.

Theatre Pops board member Meghan Hurley said Spence would be amazed that the troupe took on the production.

“I think it’s edgy enough that he’d go see it,” she said. “And Randy would be tickled. He hated the idea of producing a musical because it was too much hassle. I know he loved Monty Python, so I think he would be having a lot of fun with it.”

Director Jana Ellis, whose credits include Kiss Me Kate and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, said Spamalot’s talented cast members understand the Monty Python humor and are committed to going big with the physicality required to execute it.

Actor Sam Briggs, who plays Sir Robin (a role originated on Broadway by David Hyde Pierce of “Frasier” fame), said the production team has extraordinary camaraderie—a crucial element in any show, perhaps particularly a comedy. A farce like this depends on collaboration.

“I think comedy can be disregarded in a lot of ways,” Briggs said. “It’s a difficult art form to write and perform. Everyone has to work together to find the timing for the laugh or even a funny tender moment. Every actor and actress is giving everything they’ve got, still experimenting and trying not to break when someone discovers something hilarious.”

An array of community collaborations and social media shenanigans makes the production a potentially epic distraction from the “ugh” of August. Chefs at Bramble Breakfast & Bar, R Bar & Grill and other local venues have created menus and drinks inspired by the musical, with dishes like “Knights Who Say (Ni)Coise Salad.” Bramble’s Michelle Donaldson has even created her own version of Spam. Guest stars such as Kathy Taylor, Mary Beth Babcock and the Voice’s own Barry Friedman will join the cast in the role of “Sir Not Appearing.” And the call for photos with show posters around town using hashtags like #SpamUsALot is a delicious opportunity for Python-esque hijinks.

Spamalot invites us to join the performers in celebrating all things outrageous (not just accents) and step together into an experience that’s insane by design. Farce makes life more bearable. And every bit as much as drama, it shows us ourselves—ourselves at our most absurd.

“Sir Robin and I,” Briggs said, “are way more alike than I’d like to admit.

For more from Alicia, read her article on storytelling and performance group FAILURE:LAB.