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Secret Agents | Reviews

REVIEWS

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Scotsman - 19th August 2008
"A crazed cross between Joseph Conrad and the Mighty Boosh"

An eccentric piece of topical comedy

LIKE a crazed cross between Joseph Conrad and the Mighty Boosh, this devised play combines international espionage with off-the-cuff, in-your-face black humour and a large helping of jazz.

In the beginning, the show's three players sift through a selection of their favourite urban myths. Eventually they alight upon the already-in-circulation theory that a terrorist attack on the London Eye was narrowly thwarted in the recent past. From there, they go on to create their own version of events.

It's an amusing play, centred around superspy Verloc, who assembles a cabal of international espionage experts – including Geordie psycho Carl Hussein and "Al Qaeda's web designer" Michaelis – and proceeds to form a jazz group in the basement of London's Xxxtrovert erotic DVD shop. Among a sea of other innovative characters and some amusing moving image captions and backdrops, there is the sense that only the kitchen sink has been excluded from the company's brainstorming sessions. Still, the play holds together as an eccentric piece of topical comedy.

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Three Weeks - 7th August 2008
"A jarring and funny piece of new theatre"

Am I gullible enough to believe that jazz enthusiast and secret agent Eustace Verloc attempted to blow up the London Eye

It's rare that a production interrupts your ability to sort fact from fiction. Am I gullible enough to believe that jazz enthusiast and secret agent Eustace Verloc attempted to blow up the London Eye on March 11, 2005? I was amazed at how the three actors could maintain such clarity and energy throughout this lengthy production, playing so many different roles and using a myriad of cheap props. The intense speed of the dialogue, action, and projection also short-circuits rational thought, making you believe outrageous lies about terrorists, world leaders and police inspectors. Despite the extended length caused by unnecessary suspect profiling toward the end, Secret Agents is a jarring and funny piece of the new theatre.

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Fest - 6th August 2008
"If you enjoyed Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and are a fan of theatrical philosophy, then this, dear reader, is for you."

Interesting, playful and wacky

Secret Agents opens with a feverish discussion of a number of rumours – talk of spiders nesting in people’s ears, lobsters found curled in human flesh and tall tales of suspect Indian food. Ostensibly, the show concerns the myths which surround an attempted terrorist attack on the London Eye which was scheduled for 2005. The varying possibilities, or apocryphal media theories of how the event was planned to pan out are observed with Verlock, a loveable drunken jazzman, as the villain.

Using a Conrad novel as template, the show is complex and ambitious for a three person performance. Each of the actors plays several roles, often switching sex or style within a sequence. A significant feature of the drama is a projected on-stage billboard which presents street scenes or insights into the ‘real life’ events the segment is based upon. This extra-narrative tool is a major strength of the play, at times offering interesting and playful polemical discourse when the wackiness of the players gets too much. Whilst the play is well written—at times the script bulges with a multifaceted intrigue—often the stuttering plotline is dizzying.

The effect of the "improvised" script (an explanation, possibly for the insistence on jazz references) is more confusing that deconstructing. If you enjoyed Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and are a fan of theatrical philosophy, then this, dear reader, is for you.

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