Crazy Coqs – 23 & 30 November 2022
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
The bizarre story of the beginnings of spiritualism is told by the most unreliable narrator possible, Kate Fox, whose childhood pranks led to fame and the birth of the movement. Bitter, defiant, unrepentant – and a little sloshed – Kate shares her story as she “retires”.
Having only seen the online version pf Luke Bateman and Michael Conley’s mad musical, the energy and atmosphere of a live audience elevates Michael Conley’s performance to even greater heights. This is a man who knows how to work a room. Conley’s version of Kate is hilariously arch and self-serving, an early admission that there are only two honest reasons for doing anything – profit and attention says it all. The ghosts of sisters Leah and Maggie are present – or are they? – in the form of musical supervisor Tamara Saringer and percussionist Calie Hough, who both admirably manage to keep deadpan expressions throughout.
Bored and resentful after being moved to a quiet hamlet that she can’t quite bring herself to name without gagging, Kate and her sisters’ tricks soon develop into her communicating with a spirit in the house through knocking sounds. Gleefully explaining the simple trick through song, Popping my Toes the audience are let in on her methods early on in the show. Kate’s oft-repeated mantra that people want to believe never quite brings her to self-realisation, but that could be down to her two best friends – Jim Beam and Glen Livet. The true (?) history of the Fox sisters makes incredible reading, and it is now hard to imagine the public’s need and fascination for communing with the dead, but as Kate points out, the civil war provided plenty of new customers – Kerching. All this couldn’t last however, and the sisters’ relationships soured thanks to marriages and alcohol – all explained in scathing detail by Kate.
In Kate, Bateman and Conley have created a monster that you just can’t stop watching. Conley’s performance is a tour de force – broad and brassy, with small moments teasing some remorse or shred of humanity, before landing a bitchy and hilarious insult. The songs work brilliantly with a live audience, with lyrics as funny as Kate’s monologue. The jokes come thick and fast, with Conley’s comic timing perfectly judged to milk every laugh.
The only spirits present at the Crazy Coqs are on the drinks menu, but that won’t stop you falling under the influence of this eccentric and joyous show.