An engaging, inventive and deliciously silly ride,
Unmythable is a delightfully silly and literate show. You may or may not learn something, but you’ll definitely laugh.
The performances are all on point. Jason (Paul O’Mahony) has charisma and energy aplenty and quickly manages to win the audience on side. His two side-kicks, Beta (Rob Castell) and Gamma (Troels Hagen Findsen), serve as delightfully quirky counterpoints. This is particularly true of Findsen whose odd-ball charm really should not work but really does.
The storytelling is consistently sharp and slick. Each character is thoroughly distinguished from the others, whether by jarring accents (Orpheus is oirish for instance) or by well-pitched physicality (Ariadne is an American high schooler showing off her cocked hips and sassy head rolls). An impressive feat when you see the sheer number of characters they go through.
Although the show will definitely appeal to classics geeks, the jokes are accessible enough for anyone to get on board with. What’s more, they manage to get away with material that is definitely R-rated in such a fun, light-hearted way that you easily forget about the shocking things that the Greeks thought were entertaining. The song ‘Laying Down with Leda’ is a particular highlight in this respect; it is wonderfully irreverent and not too on the nose. There is also a surprisingly impressive song delivered by the often used and abused women of Greek legends. It suffuses their experiences with a genuine sorrow not always present in the original stories.
There is a noticeable dip in energy towards the second half. At points it seems like they are simply recounting the stories rather than embellishing them with humour and witty asides of earlier. But when the stories are this good anyway it’s hard to see this as a great fault.
Unmythable is a delightfully silly and literate show. You may or may not learn something, but you’ll definitely laugh.
