SEVERAL people used to tell the late, great Howard Coggins that he was the spitting image of Henry VIII, and some of them phrased it “living spit.” So when, in 2012, he and his longtime friend and fellow actor Stu Mcloughlin cobbled together a script about the much-married king to enter Bristol Old Vic’s Ferment festival, they were told they had to be a company … Living Spit was formed.

Performing mostly as a uo, Howard and Stu rapidly amassed an eager audience at venues across the south and west whose schedules would not be the same without the latest LS show. Sell-outs were de rigueur. In late 2023, after a short illness which kept him from the stage, Howard died, leaving behind him a request that Living Spit should continue in his honour … and thank goodness he did.

For this latest show, There’s Something About Typhoid Mary, Stu has teamed up with another of the south-west’s extraordinarily versatile actors, Lucy Tuck, who has been seen climbing rigging in King Street (with Howard’s hilarious Squire Trelawney) in Treasure Island, chasing spotted dogs round the Tobacco Factory, jumping out of watery rhines on the Levels for Wassail’s Charabanc and scaling more rigging at Burnham on Sea. It’s a perfect match, as both actors seem to be able to do anything required to delight and entertain the audience.

Here, Stu plays the real-life Mary Mallon, an Irish cook famed for infecting hundreds of people in and around New York with typhoid fever, although she had no symptoms of the disease herself. And what better way to tell her story than with a cookery show, in which the audience is invited to partake of the delicacies prepared on stage. Mary’s plans are thrown into disarray by the arrival of George Soper, the (real-life) doctor whose researches into germs have led him to the source of the outbreaks, and who is determined to stop the private chef from dispensing her (unintentionally) toxic concoctions.

Before long we realise that Mary and George are in fact dead, compelled to rehearse their story over and over again, night after night, always with the same outcome. It could almost be described as Living Spit’s Waiting for Godot, but with a bit of audience participation.

The play Kochs a Snook at many of those things that drive us (and apparently also did Howard) mad, including self-selected pronouns, clean freaks and celebrity chef shows. If you are shocked by innuendo and double-entendre, swearing and grime in the kitchen, this is not for you. Happily, no-one at the packed to the rafters Exchange saw fit to walk out as disgusted of Iwerne Minster.

As with all Living Spit shows there is lots of music, from a rap through a country-style duet and more. The speed and range of the jokes means that the show probably needs two visits to get all the references. It is another pomposity-busting triumph of irreverence.

Nine more venues are on the present tour from 18th October, and Stu is back at The Exchange with the company’s famous Christmas Carol adaptation on 5th December, between its short seasons at Clevedon and Bristol’s Tobacco Factory.

GP-W

 

There will be Something About Typhoid Mary at Bridport Arts Centre on 14th and Dorchester Corn Exchange on 15th November, and at Pill Memorial Club on 16th November.