The running phenomenon is the subject of Living Spit’s latest hilarious show.  Their self-effacing website claims that they make “poorly researched historical comedy-theatre shows about people that at least one of us vaguely looks like” but in this show they triumph in an astute and uproarious modern retelling of the fable.

The chunky Howard Coggins is Toby ‘Tortoise’ Gollop, an overweight unhealthy man aware of his own shortcomings.  He works in a bar, doesn’t have many friends and suffers poor self-esteem. The lanky Stu Mcloughlin is Barry Hare, the best runner in the Wrington running club and is as arrogant as they come. He has all the gear and one idea –of putting poor ‘Tortoise’ down any way he can, just as he did when he bullied him years before at school. Both performers own their personas so completely that the show is driven along by complete belief even when they drop in and out of other supporting roles.

The entire show is performed in rhyme and song with genuinely funny lyrics performed in an impressive variety of styles and with a wide range of instruments. The script, written by the company, is an absolute joy and consistently hits the funny bone, introducing peripheral characters including the gorgeous Nina, the running mentor. But the story very much belongs to the human interaction between two performers whose obvious warmth for each other is evident.  They are a great double act, taking turns to own the stage and play off each other with genuine affection.  The laughs come easily as the rhymes become more torturous and contrived and the fun that arises when breaking through the fourth wall is clearly shared by the growing number of fans in the audience. I even enjoyed the occasional corpsing when the actors played around the margins of a well-honed routine. Tortoise’s long trumpeted ‘double-double’ take when he first enters the running club is a thing to behold, as is the sneering, snarling lascivious look on Barry’s face as he tries to impress Nina with his limbering loins.

Throughout it all, Mcloughlin and Coggins enjoy the self-deprecation that their asides introduce, and the show encourages ‘shout out loud’ audience participation through some of the silliest material. It succeeds because there is truth in the comedy.  Runners do become obsessed; they do wear a ridiculous array of brightly coloured Lycra.  And they do wet themselves when they’re knackered at the end of a very long race.  All of these traits are brought to the show with an inescapable disarming warmth.

The poster looks like this is a kid’s show containing material for a half term treat, but this is proper grown up fringe theatre that will not offend unless the only offence is to bring gales of laughter.  Are they ‘running out of ideas’ as one song states?  Not on this showing.  The residency in Spike Island is a sell-out, but seek them out in other venues.  This one should run and run.     ★★★★☆    Bryan Mason   27^th April 2017