One of the things that I love most about Kickstarter is the ability to feel like you’ve actually contributed to helping a great idea become a reality. Over the years, among other things, I have backed a couple of very cool, but very geeky, films (“Indie Game: The Movie” & “Bedrooms to Billions“) and even a comedy vinyl album (Ari Eldjarn on Monkey Barrel Records) But I had never really considered backing a play or a musical. But then one day a Kickstarter alert appears, and it’s a pitch for Police Cops: The Musical… I don’t think that I have ever clicked a link faster.

The Police Cops are just one of those acts that you can’t not enjoy. The blood, sweat, tears… and sweat, that goes into every performance is on show for all to see. Fresh off the back of three incredibly successful shows (Police Cops, Police Cops in Space & Badass Be Thy Name) This would be their most elaborate and involved performance to date. There is a set, an interval, a production team AND new cast mates. The risks were higher… but isn’t that exactly when ‘the best damn police cops ever’ are at their finest?

The story is almost irrelevant, don’t get me wrong, there very much is one, it just has no bearing on your enjoyment of this show. But basically – It is 1985 and rookie Police Cop Jimmy Johnson has joined the force to fulfill a promise he made to his dying sister… to become the best damn police cop EVER! Jimmy’s adventure runs the full gambit of 80’s action clichés, from Mexican drug lords to grizzly older partners who don’t do things by the book.

One of the things that I thought would be most difficult about this transition would be the adding of new actors to this incredibly tight ensemble, but in Miztli Rose Neville and Andrea Nodroum the Police Cops appear to have found two performers who have hit the ground sprinting and can match them beat for beat – which is no easy feat.

This is the first time that I have seen the guys perform with a full set, and they use the space and levels to great effect, but despite the increased budget it was heart-warming to see so many of their traditional “shoe string” special effects incorporated into this new show. In terms of production, music, lighting, everything has been pushed to eleven but, as always, it is the creativity and visible enjoyment from these clowns that continue to make their performances so successful.

This is all-knowing, all guns blazing, self-depreciating, chest baring, theatrical goodness in one incredibly over-the-top roundhouse kick. I think that the best way that I can wrap up this review is to say that if I ever see a Kickstarter pitch for “Police Cops: The Movie” you can 100% count me in.

Clown Stars: * * * * *

@New Diorama Theatre, London

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