In 1993, Gary Sinyor broke biggish in the film world as writer and director of the comedy Leon The Pig Farmer. He will not enjoy similar success with his first play. “Love Life Of Brian? Then you’re going to love this!” reckons the play’s web site. Certainly Sinyor nods to (in the sense of “blatantly cribs”) some of the ideas of the Monty Python film. In this case, unlike Brian, Notmoses is intended for glory, as redeemer of the Jews in Egypt, but Moses was found first in the neighbouring bulrushes so Notmoses has to muddle along as best he can. Not unlike Thomas Nelstrop’s Moses on press night with his stick-on facial hair. After assorted mis-stickings and breaks for freedom on the part of the face-fungus, Nelstrop at the end of the first half flung his moustache and beard on to the stage in half-mock fury. Since this was the staff-into-serpent scene, one might have hoped at least for a ’tache-centipede, but no joy.

I recount this unplanned incident at length because it was far and away the funniest moment in the comedy. Sinyor intends to lampoon religions in general and Judaism in particular, albeit from an obviously affectionate position; in practice, his humour is of the standard of 1970s children’s TV shows, and his stage direction equally caricatured, a world away from his film work. Moses’ name is short for “Mosesbasket”; when he and Notmoses accept the hospitality of an Arabic-sounding Jethro in the desert, the latter offers them cooked meat which he tells them “Is-lamb”. A plethora of exaggerated accents, a speech impediment or two, a camp Egyptian slavemaster and a certain preoccupation with fellatio are other keynotes of the proceedings.

In fairness, the numerous video backdrops (designed by Lola) are impressive and well deployed, but that just emphasises once again how much more comfortable Sinyor is with screen than stage work. He also writes a decent female role in Notmoses’ beloved Miriam, who impersonates Moses for most of the journey back to Canaan, and Danielle Bird fills her sandals with aplomb. But the production is hardly the “comedy of biblical proportions” it claims, unless the Bible in question is one of those novelty microscopic-print ones.

Written for the Financial Times.