The Human Centipede Parody Musical | Synergy Production Co & Anywhere Festival
As soon as I saw the name of this production in the Anywhere Festival program, I knew I could not go past it. The infamous (surprisingly award-winning) 2009 horror film is not something I would have thought would be turned into a musical parody, which is enough of a curiosity to get me through the door. I figured it would either be a complete train-wreck, or a marvel that was absurd in all the right ways, and Synergy Production Co have definitely delivered the latter in their premiere of The Human Centipede Parody Musical.
Writers Liam Hartley and Oliver Catton have taken the storyline of the horror movie and turned it into a camp, self-aware, and ridiculous romp, a parody of the film and the cheesiness of musicals generally. The musical numbers are hilarious, clever, and performed with great skill. The content is gruesome, but the energy is high, and the choreography is peppy. We are even treated to a tap-dancing centipede nightmare, complete with a cane held by Dr. Heiter.
All the performers in this musical were excellent in their roles. They delivered their lines and songs so seriously, not breaking for even a moment.
One of my favourite elements was the backstory of the mad surgeon/villain Dr. Heiter. Played by Beau Wharton, Dr. Heiter reveals a tragic backstory of divorced parents, and years separating conjoined twins. His motivation is wanting to create something rather than tear something apart, and the earnestness in which this ridiculous justification is delivered was comedy gold.
The only negative for this performance was sight lines. Anywhere Festival is about performances in unique spaces, which means that you will not often get a raised stage or tiered seating situation like you would in a theatre. This work felt like it was made to be performed in a traditional space, and it felt like not much consideration was given to sight lines in the flat space of The Paint Factory. Changing some choreography to get the actors off the floor and back into view would have allowed better connection with the audience.
I found myself laughing out loud frequently throughout this show, and I could hear many other people doing the same. Following an intermission, the second half of the show started to get quite loose with the plot, veering away from the original storyline. The musical numbers got more and more ridiculous, barrelling towards an ending that was unexpected and hilarious. This show might have as much comedic shock-value as the original film had in horror, and has real potential to become a cult classic. Massive congratulations to the team behind the work, I will be recommending this to everyone when it next plays, which feels like an inevitability with something of such a high calibre.
