After the death of their palaeontologist mum, teenagers Jade (Maria Askew) and Noah (Simon Maeder) decide to hold a memorial screening of her favourite movie, Jurassic Park, in a local community centre. But frustrations and family resentments come bubbling to the surface when the VHS tape of the film, lovingly recorded direct from the TV, goes missing. Meanwhile, their useless dad Terry (Frode Gjerlow), is over-concerned about getting everyone out of the hall by 10.30pm so he can claim a discount.
More than simply a spoof of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dino blockbuster, Superbolt’s likeable and often ingenious three-hander explores grief and family dysfunction through the prism of Isla Nublar, the offshore island park where the cloned female dinosaurs are about to break free from the patriarchal cage in which they have been imprisoned. Perhaps everyone should be a little more concerned by the worried phone call from the school counsellor about stroppy, disaffected Jade who has been seen attacking the school fences.
There are plenty of very funny moments in a show that always treads delicately between fluff and feeling, silliness and sentiment. Like other shows, including Richard DeDomenici’s Redux Project, it finds ingenious lo-tech ways to re-create big special effects set pieces, and while having a frame-by-frame familiarity with the original would be helpful, it’s not essential. Everyone knows that a trembling glass of water signifies imminent dino devastation.
The evening is a little over-stretched and hampered by an unnecessary interval, but it suggests that while Superbolt are heirs to the comedy theatre tradition of troupes such as Spymonkey and Peepolykus, they have the potential not just to make us laugh but feel too.
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At St James theatre, London, until 23 January. Box office: 0844-264 2140
