Behind-the-scenes at Spitting Image theatre show including cost of puppets
Donald Trump 's bald head lies on the make-up table – his wig is away for maintenance – and a member of the wardrobe team hurries past carrying Boris Johnson.
This bizarre scene is being played out backstage at the Birmingham Rep theatre, where I’m also spending time with Tom Cruise, Harry Styles, Angela Rayner, Vladimir Putin and Nicola Sturgeon. And hanging out in the wings is a terrifying version of Paddington Bear.
Spitting Image was unmissable TV during its first run between 1984 and 1996, ruthlessly skewering politicians and celebrities with savage topical jokes.
Today’s satirical shows have to react even faster as, thanks to rolling news, jokes become dated at lightning speed.
And it must be even worse for this stage show, Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World. The voices are pre-recorded, but there are gaps in the script where a few timely gags can be quickly recorded and added in.
Over a third of Brits don't know when World War II took place or what started it
Appearances have to be updated too. A few days ago, there was a mini crisis when Labour MP Jess Phillips dyed her hair a lighter shade of brown.
Sanjeeta Bains, pictured with a puppet of Tom Cruise, went backstage at Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves the World
She spoke to director and co-writer Sean Foley, pictured with puppets of Meghan Markle and other characters from the show (Paul Marriott Photography)The show's director and co-writer Sean Foley says: "Working on the show has been incredible but it’s never-ending. Partly because the production needs to be topical and partly because public life in the UK in the last six months has been so chaotic – to have three prime ministers in such a short space of time."
With puppets costing £10,000 each, Liz Truss proved a pricey mistake for the show as well as for the country.
Sean says of creating the puppet versions of celebrities: "We commission a caricaturist to draw them and then when you’ve got that right, it is sent to the clay modeller.
"They come up with a head based on the drawing, then someone else does a reverse cast of it, then a cast is done in rubber latex. The glass eyes are made bespoke and, finally, the puppet is painted and wigged. That process takes a month for one puppet. And then the voice artists do their work."
Sean, who was behind the smash hit The Play What I Wrote, about Morecambe & Wise, has written the show alongside comedian Al Murray and impressionist Matt Forde.
The show satirises politicians like Boris Johnson (Paul Marriott Photography)As he gives me a tour of the 108 puppets hanging in rows ahead of preview rehearsals, only a handful need a second glance to recognise.
Two years in the making, this stage production was originally called The Liar King and based on Boris Johnson.
When he was forced to leave Downing Street, the team had to start again.
Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise was instead picked as the central character.
Al Murray says WW2 has shaped current world events - and a lot of it makes sense
Sean says: "Boris is still in the show, but he is no longer the star. It’s the first time we’ve had a Tom Cruise Spitting Image puppet. He’s a terrific actor, but he sometimes does this thing where he is needlessly intense.
"We start with a big scene with all the Royal Family because that’s the biggest soap opera in the UK."
The new storyline is inspired by 1960 western The Magnificent Seven.
Sean explains: "Tom is employed by King Charles to save his kingdom and so Tom puts together a team. " Famous faces include Elon Musk, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, James Corden.
There are new puppets featured in the production, such as one depicting Greta Thunberg (Paul Marriott Photography)
There are some old faces too, like a puppet parodying John Major (Paul Marriott Photography)Do you enjoy reading about celebrities? Sign up for all the best celeb news from the Mirror .
Original Spitting Image co-creator Roger Law, 81, has been a hands-off influence on the stage project.
"He’s kept a light hand on the tiller throughout," says Sean. "The key word that summed up Spitting Image is anarchic and we have remained true to that. If anything, Roger has wanted us to be more anarchic, more cutting, more outrageous, but always fun."
As well as new puppets, which include climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, there are some old faces too.
The grey John Major is back, one of the original Spitting Image’s most famous creations.
But the joke about Major being dull was upended when it later turned out the former PM had an affair with Edwina Currie – something the new production references.
In the world of Spitting Image, politics' new Mr Boring is Keir Starmer. Sean says: "We homed in on the idea that Keir might come across as boring. And how he talks like he is slightly annoyed. That becomes funnier and funnier as the show goes on. A bit Alan Partridge."
He adds, perhaps optimistically: "I do feel if Keir saw it, he would laugh."
Of satirising the Prime Minister, Sean says: "Rishi Sunak has the head boy, school prefect way of talking. Rishi is really desperate to be PM, but everyone else thinks he really shouldn’t be."
The stage show also references the Royal Family (Paul Marriott Photography)I take a few selfies with my favourite stars before a rehearsal performance. Without giving away any spoilers, Tom Cruise makes his entrance in the only way he can. It takes three puppeteers: one for Tom’s head and two for his limbs.
Unlike in the TV series, the puppeteers are on view but as productions such as Avenue Q have proven, they do not detract from the show.
On sending up the entire Royal Family, Sean says: "The only side we take is that everyone is fair game. But if you
are going to lampoon someone, you have to do it in a way that is justifiable and accountable."
Spitting Image was rebooted in 2020 for the streaming service BritBox, running for two years, and Sean is hopeful it will make a mainstream TV comeback.
On the importance of the show, he says: "Spitting Image holds people up to comic scorn, people who are telling other people what to do and not observing those same things.
"There has been almost hysteria from audiences who have seen the previews. I think it is a kind of release of people going 'Thank God we’re allowed to laugh at this stuff'.
"We really do need to laugh at it and we need to laugh at them."
Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image Saves The World is now on at Birmingham Rep until March 11.
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