They say there's nothing new under the sun, and this week's big opening somehow both proves and disproves the theory.

Insane Animals takes its inspiration from the Epic of Gilgamesh - an ancient poem from Mesopotamia that is widely regarded as the oldest great work of literature yet discovered.

It was written around 1800BC and deals with some pretty weighty themes, not the least of which is immortality. And given we're still talking about Gilgamesh right now, you could say he's gone some way to reaching that goal.

Insane Animals is brought to us by cult cabaret duo and leading lights of the UKs alternative performance scene Bourgeois and Maurice, otherwise known as George Heyworth and Liv Morris. As you can imagine, their work is about as a la mode as it's possible to be.

George said of the subject matter: "It just felt really current. It's a story about survival and attempting to outlive your human body. Its central character and a lot of the themes that it explores feel like they really chime with what's going on in the world at the moment and the people that are running the world at the moment, so we were kind of drawn to it for that reason."

So what can we expect? George again: "Well, we've written quite a lot in this script about things flying in, so that'll be happening.

"Just generally it's a bigger cast. It's us with a cast of eight. The music is bigger, the storytelling is much bigger, just the spectacle of the thing is much bigger.

"We've got some really exciting creatives on the show. Our director is Phillip McMahon, who has just got an amazing vision and ability to see the story.

"So we're going Gothic and we're going big and we're going camp and we're going showbiz."

Liv adds: "It is our biggest show that we have ever made. It's a musical adventure, through the telling of the story of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and looking forward to the future and the idea of some of the themes around survival and immortality that this ancient ancient poem talks about, and these ideas of future tech and transhumanism that we are talking about now.

"All with some funny rhymes and songs."

Insane Animals is an outrageous larger-than-life time-travelling musical comedy in which two hyper-glam aliens arrive from a faraway galaxy to rescue present-day earth from impending political, environmental, and social doom. This epic joyride from the dawn of civilisation to the sequinned near future sees Bourgeois and Maurice on hand to help the human race live forever.

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A time-travelling musical comedy with lots of flying - Insane Animals arrives at HOME - Manchester Evening News