JADAR

★★★★☆

Moz and the gang are back, celebrating Ideal’s 20th anniversary with a cooky live. The hit BBC sit-com aired from 2005-2011, spanning seven seasons and entertaining audiences with its bizarre dark humour. Fittingly, the Salford-based show started its tour in the heart of the Quays, making for an amusing quintessentially Northern show filled with colloquialisms, innuendos, and other-worldly antics.

The show follows weed dealer Moz (Johnny Vegas) and his ditzy new (“out-of-his-league”) girlfriend Liza (Lucy Farrett), as long-time friend Colin (Ben Crompton) is newly released from prison. After Brian (Graham Duff) suggests a welcome home party, inviting the local gangsters and the well-mannered but narcotised necrophiliac Judith (Joanna Neary), frustrations and sexual tensions brew.

Meanwhile, Tania (Emma Fryer) enlists the help of (the aptly named) Psycho Paul (Ryan Pope) and Cartoon Head (Curt Faltrey) in disposing of a body filled with priceless diamonds. But can they trust each other? Is love and friendship stronger than greed in this screwy Salfordian surrealist saga? 

Written and directed by Graham Duff (who also stars as “big gay Brian”), the show invites audiences into Moz’s grimy flat, each familiar character welcomed with adoring cheers, and each storyline seeming barmier than the last.

While I was unfamiliar with the television show (being three when it first came out!), it was easy to sink into their wacky world of whimsical weirdos. Ideal toes the line between nostalgic come-back and original story. References to previous episodes and occurrences were great for original fans, as well as fleshing out the world for newcomers alike. Additionally, Ideal situates itself nicely with today’s society, mentioning technological advancements, zoom calls, and speedy drug deliveries. 

Duff’s story is a complete fever dream… and rightfully so with all the drugs and psychos about. It’s the perfect mix of grounded characters, in bonkers scenarios. In a sense you feel like you’re a part of their weird drug-fuelled bender. For instance, who’d expect to see sex, murder, and a séance in the same show? From an entrancing frantic dance solo, and the most lingering (and wet) sex scene you’ll ever see on stage, to bizarre acid trips and dream sequences with Halloween-masked astronauts, red bandaged mummies (the Organz), and a melting Cartoon Head mask reminiscent of Dali’s Persistence of Memories clocks. Utterly bewildering… but it somehow makes sense!

With two ongoing and occasionally interweaving stories, the split-staging works surprisingly well giving it that soap-opera feeling as the lights oscillate between the two spaces, actors freezing or leaving during the darkness while a new scene unfolds. On the left was Moz’s incessantly green flat, covered in stains and patchy plastering, and decked out with a bed, a comfy solo sofa, a bookcase, and a few pieces of surreal looking wall-art. On the right, was Psycho Paul’s body disposing den- a white rundown warehouse room with pipes, extractor fans, a sofa, and foldable chairs. 

Mikey Howard’s lighting design worked beautifully, nicely separating the two storylines and spaces, other times capturing their faces under sharp spotlights, recreating some essence of television camera framing with that extreme focus.

On the technical side, act one was plagued by a re-occurring microphone issue in that loud thuds in between calm dialogue had me jumping out of my seat every few minutes. Microphones sometimes didn’t pick up as a character entered, or alternatively picked up a character chuckling from off-stage. The nicely varied funky music sometimes cut out a little too quickly or linger into the next scene, leading to a few awkward jarring moments that really pulled me out of the piece. Additionally, some of the scene transitions left audiences in the dark for far too long. 

Hilariously, some of my favourite moments of comedy in the show were mistakes since the cast bounce so effortlessly off each other creating a live blooper reel of sorts. Some moments saw a forgotten lines or prop malfunction turn into fourth wall breaks that had the other actors desperately stifling their laughter. Others occurred when actors tripped on their lines or sounded a little Scooby-ish, or when Vegas accidentally spat at Duff leading to the sassiest “should’ve brought some windscreen wipers” I’ve ever heard. They are a truly charismatic and naturally hilarious cast brimming with chemistry- whether the gag was planned or ad-libbed. 

Ideal offers an incredible dose of absurd Northern comedy, with long-standing gags, strangely elongated pronunciations, self-demeaning jokes, pop-culture references, subtle (and not so subtle) innuendos, expressive body language and drug-fuelled skits, casual violence, and slapstick skits. The odd joke doesn’t quite land, but the majority had the audience in complete hysterics. 

Surprisingly, there is no “stand-out” comedian or character… every performer was so hilarious and believable in their own way. Johnny Vegas’ Moz, Ben Crompton’s Colin and Graham Duff’s Brian made for a dream team of comedy actors. Duff’s cutting insults were spurred by his addictively sharp delivery. Crompton’s erraticism created some wonderfully bizarre moments. Meanwhile Vegas’ perfectly lands every joke and bounces seamlessly off each character. 

Curt Faltrey as Cartoon Face was incredibly expressive despite being mute throughout entire performance – his jovial hand gestures and murderous blank-faced (or masked) stares were bewilderingly funny. As for Fryer and Pope, their hushed tones and bewildering yet palpable chemistry make for the most gripping twists in the story. 
Farret gives Liza an incredibly ditzy yet anger fuelled demeanour, that contrasts nicely with the well-meaning but completely unhinged Judith played with entrancing expression by Joanna Neary. 

Overall, Ideal offers a surprising mixture of comedy that I’ve never seen before; it’s dark and farcical, grounded in reality yet completely absurd and unashamedly crude. While its likely aimed at long-standing fans, Duff’s storytelling is fleshed-out so accessible for newcomers. The infatuating cast and inventive skits make for an undeniably hilarious evening, albeit one with a tad too many technical difficulties.

Photo: (c) Andy Hollingworth