The Stratford Production of Eric Idle and John Du Prez’s musical, Spamalot, “lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail is absurdly funny and absurdly fun. Director Lezlie Wade crafts a tsunami of song, dance, and iconic sketch comedy that is nothing but two hours of wild entertainment and belly laughs.

Eric Idle, an original member of the legendary British sketch comedy troupe Monty Python, weaves clever song and dance parodies through much of the original material of the 1975 original movie. Though secondary to the sketch comedy, the plot follows King Arthur as he gathers honourable men to become his Knights of the Round Table in his quest to find the Holy Grail.

All the iconic sketches from the film are still there: audiences are reintroduced to the Knights who say NI!: the Knight who won’t accept he’s lost the duel despite losing all four limbs (It’s just a scratch! Come on now! Fight me!); the cute but murderous Rabbit guarding the Holy Grail; the peasants who refuse to bow to their king but rather remain part of their democratic collective; the plague-inflicted villagers who are “Not dead yet,”; and, of course, the French soldier who farts in Arthur’s general direction.

In addition to these sketches, the musical includes some of the best meta-theatrical musical theatre parodies of all time. “The Song that Goes Like This” makes fun of romantic ballads; “Knights of the Round Table” takes the song-and-dance production number to absurd lengths of high-energy musical theatre performance; and ”Find Your Grail” spoofs inspirational songs like “Climb Every Mountain” or “Tomorrow.”

Wade’s direction ensures that the material itself shines. There is no need for a directorial intervention for this stuff. After all, these sketches continue to make people laugh almost fifty years after first aired, garnering attention from each successive generation.

That being said, the cast under Wade’s sensitive touch delivers the comedy expertly. Jonathan Goad as Arthur provides a stable and solid foundation for the mayhem to swirl around, while also delivering some impressive song and dance skills in the process. Eddie Glen, who is no stranger to the world of comedy — having been featured in Ross Petty’s yearly pantos for decades — performs deft physical comedy and expert comic mugging as the coconut-clapping squire of the mythical British king. Aaron Korhn, as the French Taunter, delivers this iconic character in a way that honours the original but feels fresh and alive. Jennifer Rider-Shaw, as the Lady of the Lake, is both virtuosic, delivering torch-songs such as “Find Your Grail,” and comic, such as when she brings down the house with “The Diva’s Lament (What Ever Happened to my Part!?) in Act Two.

Jesse Rob’s choreography is masterfully crafted controlled chaos. The pandemonium of the high-energy song-and-dance numbers may appear chaotic, but a trained eye can see that the well-rehearsed ensemble functions like a well-oiled machine. They are able to bowl over the audience with such spirited musical burlesques as “He Is Not Dead Yet,” “Knights of the Round Table,” and “You Won’t Succeed On Broadway.”

The design evokes the cartoonish imagery associated with Monty Python. When God appears to instruct Arthur to search for the Grail — and when the Grail is inevitably found — simple cartoon appendages such as God's feet and a hand grasping the Grail, are used to render the scene. The mediaeval ramparts of the set remind the audience of the time and place of the action, while never slowing down the comic commotion of the musical.