Living Spit return with their unique spin on gothic horror

Clevedon-based comedy-theatre makers Living Spit are back, bringing their mix of anarchic puppetry, music, grotesquery and wit to bear on Mary Shelley’s gothic horror, Frankenstein.

Geneva, Switzerland, 1823. Deeply affected by his mother’s untimely passing and the death of Greg, his pet hamster, undergraduate Victor Frankenstein comes up with a plan. Using all of his best science-y skills, he endeavours to conquer death, once and for all – by creating life itself! But will his creation be to his liking? Or has Victor unwittingly made a huge mistake?

The show was first performed at the Salisbury Playhouse and the Tropicana, Weston-Super-Mare, site of Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’, where it was a hit with audiences and critics alike, as well as representing a big upward shift for Living Spit in the size and scale of their productions (they have created 16 shows since their inception in 2012).

With Frankenstein: The Musical, the company will be at Tobacco Factory Theatres for 14 performances across 11 days this November, including some matinée shows.

Stu Mcloughlin and Howard Coggins in Frankenstein at the Salisbury Playhouse – photo: The Other Richard

Ahead of their run, Bristol 24/7 caught up with performers Howard and Stu in an attempt to pin them down to a few straight answers.

In your own words, Living Spit started out ‘as a bit of a joke’. How long did it take before you realised you had in fact established a company with a future?

“Well, we never count our chickens… but it got quite serious when we opened a bank account and got bank cards with ‘Living Spit’ written on them.”

How would you sum up the Living Spit aesthetic?

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know.”

What do you most enjoy about your collaborations?

“To be honest, we don’t think about them as collaborations as such. More a battle of wills. Ultimately to decide we tend to strip to the waist, oil ourselves up and wrestle until one of us gives up Then the other one gets their own way.”

What was it about the classic Frankenstein story that made it particularly suitable for a Living Spit reimagining?

“It’s about two people… A frustrated, tortured, handsome genius (Howard) and a disgusting, hideous creature constructed entirely from recycled body parts (Stu).”

Are there other sorts of stories that you would avoid, or those that you’d like to have a go at staging but haven’t found a way in as yet?

“We’d definitely avoid stories that are still in copyright, partly because we want to investigate the historical canon but mostly because we can’t afford to pay anyone royalties. And we quite fancy the life of Jesus Christ, but we can’t work out a way of doing ‘the feeding of the five thousand’ with just two of us.”

Should audiences come ready to laugh, cry, or scream?

“All three. But not necessarily in that order… (they said, smugly and irritatingly).”

At what point do you know you’ve done your job?

“As soon as somebody laughs, cries or screams.”

Could you sum up what it is about the relationship that you have with your audience that most excites you?

“How dare you!”

Is there a recipe to your success?

“Yes. But we’re not sharing it with you. It’s like the recipe for Coca Cola or something like that. Only known by a few privileged family members.”

Living Spit’s Frankenstein: The Musical runs from November 2-13 at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol, BS3 1TF. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.

Main photo: Living Spit

Read more: Review: Living Spit’s Beauty & The Beast, Bristol Old Vic

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