Fresh from performing with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, Brighton-based physical comedy sensation Spymonkey return home with a new version of their pulp gothic extravaganza, Cooped.

The high jinks begin when beautiful Laura Du Lay arrives at the creepy ancient mansion of reclusive Forbes Murdston. How long can she hold on to her sanity while faced with the unsettling behaviour of manservant Klaus and the ravings of her weird employer?

Described as a cross between The Pink Panther and Psycho, this hilarious, hammy show will have you in stitches. Penny Sims talks to performer Toby Park, who is currently performing the show in Australia.

What is Cooped about?

Cooped is about four egomaniacs who each want to kill the others on stage. They are all trapped in a very mediocre play by Forbes Murdston, a pompous English classical actor.

There is also a Spanish soap star, a German expressionist war criminal and a slightly past-it gogo dancer.

Cal McCrystal is a bit of a comedy wizard, what is it like working with him?

Cal is a brilliant director. He has the most amazing instinct for homing in on the thing about you which makes you vulnerable and truly funny.

How did Cooped go down in Sydney?

Sydney was the most stressful getin to a theatre we've ever had to deal with - our props and costumes were seized by Australian Quarantine.

We have a whole load of animatronic pheasants in the show and because of the bird flu, I think the feathers rang their alarm bells.

But it was brilliant to play to an English-speaking audience after a couple of months of Greek and Swiss audiences who needed five minutes to translate the gags to each other.

That must have been difficult - did non-English speaking audiences get it?

Our shows work on a number of different levels so even for people who understand no English, there is something to be engaged by.

In Athens we put in quite a few Greek bits - there was a fantastic bit when Aitor did the super Greek expression on seeing a beautiful woman, spitting theatrically on the floor and saying: "I hope the evil eye doesn't fall on you, lovely lady." The audience exploded - we couldn't do that anywhere else.

Starts: Tue May 23 to Thur May 25 and Sat 27 May, 8pm; Fri May 26, 6pm and 9pm. Tickets: £15, £12, £6. In association with Made In Brighton Ltd.