The Games

With the county still alight with Olympic flame fever, what could be more fitting than a ‘lost’ Aristophanes comedy to round off the festivities?

That was the rather loosely imagined premise of The Games, a ribald and slapstick play brought to Norwich Playhouse by Spike Theatre.

The tale revolves around the fates of Darius (Liam Tobin), Stanzas (Mark Keemar Smith) and Hermpahrodite (Keddy Sutton) - all plucked from obscurity by the gods to take part in the Olympics and prove their sponsors theories about the nature of humanity. Mostly while naked.

There is a slightly political subtext with Hermaphrodite barred from taking part in the games because of her gender but this is far from a serious production. Prosthetic penises are the order of the day, together with a sea of puns, slapstick physical theatre, shadow puppetry and no small number of songs.

The humour is bawdy, base and low - and nothing wrong with that - but at times it is also a little self-indulgent. This is a shortish show - around 75 minutes straight - but even then some scenes did drag a little.

Performances were enthusiastic rather than polished, and to that extent perhaps a true reflection of the original spirit of the games.