Review: Magic in the air at must-see Monty Python show in Rugby

You have to be of a certain age to remember the original impact of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Whether or not you were a fan from its debut way back in 1969, few of us can have escaped something of its extraordinary creativity.

I was alive but under a family influence that meant we didn’t watch the series at the time - and I’ve still not seen one of those tv episodes in full.

But I never felt I’d missed out because it seemed everyone I knew who was a few years older, prided themselves on being able to recite - or perform - one sketch or another.

And by the time the films of new work came out, I was free to go to the cinema and be part of the gang.

It was the first of those, of course, that forms the basis of Spamalot - Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

At the time I thought it was great in parts but not amazing - but it’s the spirit of those great bits that make its reinvention as a musical a thing of wonder, though quite a challenge for any amateur group.

But after seeing Roams doing their own wonderful things with Hayley Smith at the helm of their last big production - last year’s rather more saintly Godspell - there was little doubt letting her loose on Spamalot would be a match made in Monty heaven.

It’s almost impossible to describe the plot - or give any spoilers - but, without a doubt, there’s magic in the air.

Hayley’s direction - coupled with the significant contributions of choreographer Ashton Gregson and musical director David King, plus all those involved in so many ways - has given us a show where everyone on the stage is clearly having a good time and the humour positively shines through.

Cynics will question whether you can go wrong with such rich and surreal source material but success is not certain - and underpinning the joy witnessed here is great detail, brilliant physicality and numerous, wonderful voices.

And for what has become a nomadic operation, though one with a great deal of history, seeing new recruits to their ranks is another sign of a group in good heart and with much to offer.

Elizabeth Gaynon as Lady of the Lake and Cade Fox as Fred/Herbert were first-timers who dazzled. Another Roams newcomer, though a familiar face to Rugby audiences, Jen Braunston, was wonderful as Patsy, with fine coconut-playing skills and always so expressive in her support of Stuart Esworthy’s commanding King Arthur.

The knights in every incarnation were great and there were other flashes of genius - Marie Stitson as Minstrel, another who took her big moment to almost steal the show.

Quite how Roams follow this is beyond me - but that’s for later.

For now, I’ll just content myself with recalling some of those hilarious moments and breaking out in the occasional guffaw, with no apologies.