The Defectors cheer up a gloomy autumnal night with their Defective Inspector double bill of An American Odyssey and A Stitch in Time at the Golden Goose Theatre as part of the Lambeth Fringe
“The future is Fluffy”
I first came across The Defectors at the 2022 Camden Fringe with their show Defective Inspector which tickled me greatly with its fast-paced absurdity. So it was gladdening to see them pop up in the Edinburgh Fringe programme this summer and even more so to see them bring their work to London at Camberwell’s Golden Goose Theatre (for what apparently could be the last time in a while for these shows).
That original show has now been retitled An American Odyssey and it is now partnered with a time-travelling sequel A Stitch in Time, which follows on the madcap adventures of hapless failed detective-turned-self-published detective novelist Richard P. Cooper (played with booming pomposity by Harrison Cole). The cast has been beefed from 3 to 4 and the ridiculousness level maintained, if not even increased with twice the numbers of genres to spoof.
The script is the thing (Cole also writes), full of wit and whimsy, packed with as many groan-inducing puns as laugh out loud jokes and such are the giggles that it is easy to miss the next gag, which perversely never feels like a bad thing under Shannon Fox’s astute direction. Particularly tickling the funnybone is the little shots of the unexpected, the intermittent beats of oddball humour, the hilarity of a randomly shouted line (LIME! still kills me), the use of umbrellas….
There’s an additional throughline of Cooper staging these shows for the first time but only being given 3 actors from the local drama school instead of the requested 30, leading to all sorts of multi-roling and grumbling from the supporting trio (Daniel Hemsley, Francesca Eldred and Ellie Church). This meta-comedy level is only sprinkled lightly (which is probably for the best as Mischief do it so well) but it does provide a useful tool to intermittently puncture Cooper’s ego and provide another stream of sight gags and amusing pass-ag commentary lest we ever begin to take anything seriously.
But from one night stands with Kylie Minogue impersonators to nefarious trumpeters and drug dealing newsboys to three-legged talking canine villains in the first half alone, there’s little danger of doing anything but enjoying the sleek silliness of it all. I look forward to what comes next.