Monty Python's Flying Circus - Stage Incarnations

Stage Incarnations

The members of Monty Python embarked on a series of stage shows during and after the television series. These mostly consisted of sketches from the series, though they also included other famous sketches that had preluded them. One such sketch was the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written by Cleese and Chapman, and performed for At Last the 1948 Show; the sketch subsequently became part of the live Python repertoire. The shows also included songs from collaborator Neil Innes.

Recordings of three of these stage shows have subsequently appeared as separate works:

1. Monty Python Live at Drury Lane (aka Monty Python Live at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), released as their fifth album in 1974
2. Monty Python Live at City Center, released in 1976
3. Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, released as a film in 1982

In 2005 a troupe of actors headed by Rémy Renoux, translated and "adapted" a stage version of Monty Python’s Flying Circus into French. Usually the original actors defend their material very closely, but given in this case the "adaptation" and also the translation into French (with subtitles), the group supported this production. The adapted material sticks close to the original text, mainly deviating when it comes to ending a sketch, something the Python members themselves changed many times over the course of their stage performances. Language differences also occur in the lyrics of several songs. For example, "sit on my face" (which translated into French would be “Asseyez-vous sur mon visage") becomes "come in my mouth".