Police Cops in Space is a pretty darn good time at Underbelly Festival Cavendish Square
“I’ll need to get someone to cover me at the care home”
Regular readers might know that Police Cops: The Musical filled me with all kinds of joy so the revival of its predecessor (although chronologically it comes after the musical) Police Cops in Space, as part of the Underbelly Festival at Cavendish Square, was welcome news indeed. It may not have reached the same heights for me but it is still a really fun time with a company of talented comedians unafraid of whipping their shirt off for their art.
Insofar as it matters, the show follows Sammy Johnson, the son of Jimmy Johnson whose travails we followed in Police Cops: The Musical, as he’s forced to shoulder the family legacy to become the best damn police cop…in space. 80s and 90s sci-fi films are the parodic target here, so there’s buddying up with a rogue pilot, time-travelly paradoxes to save the day and funniest of all, an evil naked cyborg chasing the good guys.
Written and performed by Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson, and Tom Roe, the show both succeeds and suffers a little from much of the audience’s evident familiarity with the musical. This show was clearly very much the template for that and whilst it is great to see much loved comic routines returning in the Police Cops style, I was a little disappointed that less originality was on show, given that was a huge part of what thrilled me last year.
Terrible sightlines at this venue mean too much is lost for those not in the front rows any time the action drops to the floor and there’s an occasional laxness to the material – joking about having too many montages doesn’t make having too many montages work any better. But this is part and parcel of having such sky-high expectations. For most people, the sheer level of outrageous charm, huge comic improvisation skills and pure energy will prove a winner.
