Cooped is really good fun. It is a highly professional piece of physical theatre and clowning, as one would expect from a show that has been touring for five years. It also uses the best of corny special effects to create stormy nights and animal-infested country houses.
The plot is simply silly. We are welcomed into a luxurious mansion set, designed by Lucy Bradridge, creaking and collapsing to fit in with the drama. There, in a deliciously over-acted spoof, a murder mystery is played out by the charming Spymonkey.
Sweet orphan Laura Dulay (Petra Massey) is welcomed to his home by suave, handsome Forbes Murdstone (Toby Park) and his uppity butler Klaus (Stephan Kreiss). This unorthodox household then receives an assortment of visitors including solicitor Roger Parchment (Aitor Basari) who inexplicably has a Spanish accent.
Tongues never leave cheeks as the innocent ingenue suffers a series of strange dreams and finds that real life, with its rich mix of incest, murder and identical twins, is very little easier to make sense of.
Using both verbal and physical comedy, this spoof makes few wrong moves as it consistently amuses and allows the team to show off their extraordinary skills. In particular, Miss Massey has the useful ability to imitate a mannequin to perfection and Mr Kreiss the longest of tongues.
There will be few more professionally produced shows on the Fringe this year. Go and see it.