The Planet of the Apes is easily one of STARBURST Magazine’s favourite movies, so when we learned that professional funny people Peter Michael Marino and Marisol Soledad had teamed up to produce a loving low-budget parody of the 1968 classic sci-fi movie, we had to take a look for ourselves.
The movie needs little introduction, but in short, it’s about the survivors of a long-range space mission who crash-land on a world where Apes run the world, and humans are mute slaves. Planet Of The Grapes – An Epic, Tabletop, Sci-Fi Adventure tells tells this story, but the apes are grapes, and the humans are corks from bottles of wine. (Is a glass of wine the ultimate evolution of a grape, we wonder? More importantly, this is a parody that gets the original movie, and everything has a sense of loving detail to it that makes it really work. This is a show that goes very far beyond the pun, and we can’t help be love that.
Be warned that when they say grapes, they mean actual grapes. A lot of this show is done on a table, and they are actual grapes in actual costumes. This is essentially very, very cleverly done ‘toy theatre’; everything is told through puppets, props and toys. If you ever wondered what a toy theatre playset would look like in the hands of skilled adults, this is your answer; it’s very silly fun. (They are some ‘close-up’ puppets also; it’s all done with the audience in mind.)
There are moments when grape-related props go out into the audience, and the whole thing is done with its tongue rammed into its cheek and a sense of utter joy. The intimacy of the show makes it funnier, and the audience is invited to join in. It’s also a solid parody of the movie, and yes, it does wear its 1960s heart on its sleeve at times, and is satirical without being mean-spirited. The performers somehow capture Charlton Heston’s all-American rugged charm in the form of a cork with some blonde fluff on it, which is as impressive as it is funny. Delightfully daft, unique and very funny.
