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A sketch about un perroquet mort, anyone? It's one of Edinburgh 2003's unlikeliest offerings: the first theatrical staging of Monty Python's Flying Circus. By a French company. In French. According to Michael Palin: "Sometimes they hit the mark exactly, sometimes they miss the mark, and sometimes they miss it so completely that it is quite extraordinary." With endorsements like this, it's hard to fathom whether producer Remy Renoux's show should be taken seriously or is no more than a Pythonesque prank itself.
According to Renoux, who is all cat-that-got-the-cream smiles, the idea came about when he collaborated with the Terries Gilliam and Jones on a production of the musical Irma La Douce for the French National Theatre. "I said to them, 'why don't you ever give the rights for the Flying Circus on stage?' Their reason was that some of them didn't want their parts to be played by English actors. So I said, 'what about a French-language production?'" To Renoux's huge surprise, the Terries green-lighted the suggestion. The other remaining Pythons - and their lawyers - presently followed suit.
"I've been a long time dreaming of having the Flying Circus on stage," says the producer. France is besotted with Python, he says. "This is the country of Ionesco, so absurdity is in our theatrical culture." Renoux claims to know "four or five very famous French comedy troupes who say, 'we are here thanks to what Monty Python did on the...