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Monkeying around
CULTURE
Monkeying around You have morphed into a chimp. Stewart Pringle on a timely satire
IT IS rare that a year goes by without Will Self, that sardonic chronicler of the broken and the bizarre, declaring that the novel is dead, or doomed. His first theatrical venture, Great Apes, is itself a kind of goodbye, though in this case he is waving off the entire human species. This wildly alternate reality, where the development of Homo sapiens took a different fork in the Darwinian road, is based on one of Self’s best novels, published in 1997. It combines a germ of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, a snatch of Planet of the Apes and a whole island’s-worth of Swiftian satire, to prick the preposterous commonplaces of the 1990s, and through them, our abiding penchant for posturing anthropocentrism. At London’s Arcola Theatre it has been given a wild, whirling adaptation by playwright Patrick Marmion. A ferocious, talented cast switch roles and flick through scenes with abandon. Simon Dykes is an artist, played by Bryan Dick, who wakes up after an evening of exuberant drug-taking and sex to find that he and everyone he knows have morphed into up-scaled chimps. London is now a swarming ape metropolis, social norms have collapsed, and the preface to social encounters is rampant Bonobo-like copulation rather than polite human greetings. Self’s work has always been a freewheeling mishmash of The cast goes ape to highlight the norms of human society 48 | NewScientist | 7 April 2018
whimsy, bar-room philosophy have survived the passage of the and bum jokes, giving his work years. Care for the unwell and the great energy and exuberance. elderly, the glass ceiling and the There is also a less appealing patriarchy are held up to alien, note: a queasy “appreciation” of ape-ish standards. the louche excesses of London’s There are lessons to be learned arts scene. Marmion has nailed among the primates and, barring that perfectly. a slightly mawkish penultimate In Oscar Pearce’s high-energy production, chimp puns tumble “London is now a swarming ape metropolis, over lofty reflections, and and all social norms existential crises jostle for space have collapsed” with the sheer slapstick joy of actors pretending to be monkeys pretending to be 1990s urbanites. scene, Marmion retains enough of The cast is uniformly strong, Self’s acidity to pose them clearly. with Bryan Dick and Donna Berlin The play is at its best when it the standouts. Sarah Beaton’s uses the apparently shocking design is minimal, but that is social codes of the apes to reframe for the best as this seven-strong our own standards of care and company barrels across the stage community. As Simon’s journey under Jonnie Riordan’s witty progresses, in fact, the grooming movement direction. and sex lose their power to The original novel had plenty affront and become symbols of to say about the state of the world, something kinder, or at least and depressingly many targets more honest.
There is an intriguing thread running through Great Apes that has only become more relevant with the passing of time: in a world where social media profiles are the front-line of interaction, how relevant is it whether a chimp or a human is at the controls? Sadly, the conceit begins to wear thin before the end. Perhaps that is inevitable in a play lasting just under 2 hours. For sure the cast’s energy never flags, there is no shortage of ideas, and the play’s balancing of smarts and humanity is engaging to the last. But time is the enemy of some satire: however deftly Self’s thought experiments are spun, it did feel like an awfully long time to be monkeying around. ■ Stewart Pringle is a playwright, critic and theatre producer
ALASTAIR MUIR/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Great Apes by Will Self, adapted by Patrick Marmion, Arcola Theatre, London, to 21 April
Monkeying around You have morphed into a chimp. Stewart Pringle on a timely satire
IT IS rare that a year goes by without Will Self, that sardonic chronicler of the broken and the bizarre, declaring that the novel is dead, or doomed. His first theatrical venture, Great Apes, is itself a kind of goodbye, though in this case he is waving off the entire human species. This wildly alternate reality, where the development of Homo sapiens took a different fork in the Darwinian road, is based on one of Self’s best novels, published in 1997. It combines a germ of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, a snatch of Planet of the Apes and a whole island’s-worth of Swiftian satire, to prick the preposterous commonplaces of the 1990s, and through them, our abiding penchant for posturing anthropocentrism. At London’s Arcola Theatre it has been given a wild, whirling adaptation by playwright Patrick Marmion. A ferocious, talented cast switch roles and flick through scenes with abandon. Simon Dykes is an artist, played by Bryan Dick, who wakes up after an evening of exuberant drug-taking and sex to find that he and everyone he knows have morphed into up-scaled chimps. London is now a swarming ape metropolis, social norms have collapsed, and the preface to social encounters is rampant Bonobo-like copulation rather than polite human greetings. Self’s work has always been a freewheeling mishmash of The cast goes ape to highlight the norms of human society 48 | NewScientist | 7 April 2018
whimsy, bar-room philosophy have survived the passage of the and bum jokes, giving his work years. Care for the unwell and the great energy and exuberance. elderly, the glass ceiling and the There is also a less appealing patriarchy are held up to alien, note: a queasy “appreciation” of ape-ish standards. the louche excesses of London’s There are lessons to be learned arts scene. Marmion has nailed among the primates and, barring that perfectly. a slightly mawkish penultimate In Oscar Pearce’s high-energy production, chimp puns tumble “London is now a swarming ape metropolis, over lofty reflections, and and all social norms existential crises jostle for space have collapsed” with the sheer slapstick joy of actors pretending to be monkeys pretending to be 1990s urbanites. scene, Marmion retains enough of The cast is uniformly strong, Self’s acidity to pose them clearly. with Bryan Dick and Donna Berlin The play is at its best when it the standouts. Sarah Beaton’s uses the apparently shocking design is minimal, but that is social codes of the apes to reframe for the best as this seven-strong our own standards of care and company barrels across the stage community. As Simon’s journey under Jonnie Riordan’s witty progresses, in fact, the grooming movement direction. and sex lose their power to The original novel had plenty affront and become symbols of to say about the state of the world, something kinder, or at least and depressingly many targets more honest.
There is an intriguing thread running through Great Apes that has only become more relevant with the passing of time: in a world where social media profiles are the front-line of interaction, how relevant is it whether a chimp or a human is at the controls? Sadly, the conceit begins to wear thin before the end. Perhaps that is inevitable in a play lasting just under 2 hours. For sure the cast’s energy never flags, there is no shortage of ideas, and the play’s balancing of smarts and humanity is engaging to the last. But time is the enemy of some satire: however deftly Self’s thought experiments are spun, it did feel like an awfully long time to be monkeying around. ■ Stewart Pringle is a playwright, critic and theatre producer
ALASTAIR MUIR/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Great Apes by Will Self, adapted by Patrick Marmion, Arcola Theatre, London, to 21 April