AUSTRALIA Vs SOUTH AFRICA

Only three more nights (plus the Saturday matinee) to catch what I consider one of the tightest, funniest shows I've ever been in. Unusual for Gordon not to have posted a review...but it IS Festival time and there's a lot of competition. So, let me post the West Australian's review by Pier Leach, which was very flattering. Before I do, let me do the blah: it's had packed houses, audiences raving, encore curtin calls every night; it's fast paced, continual laughter, tightly performed and directed, a highly dynamic one-act play; suitable for anyone over 12; it's only an hour long (compared to some drawn-out Festival shows!) and one of the cheapest Festival shows. Laugh-for-laugh it's going to be one of the best value nights you'll see for some time. It stars South African comedy duo Ellis Pearson & Bheki Mkwhane, and local comedy heroes Sam Longley and Craig Williams...who wouldn't be blowing his own trumpet like this if he couldn't personally guarantee you'll love the show. There's still tickets available, particularly for the Saturday matinee. Okay, on to the professional trumpet blowing: FESTIVAL THEATRE AUSTRALIA Vs SOUTH AFRICA Barking Gecko Theatre Company Subiaco Arts Centre Review: Pier Leach, The West Australian, Monday Feb 11 2008 Trials of the passionate spectator Competitive international sport – that hotbed for nationalism and uncontrollable surges of testosterone – is at the centre of Tom Lycos and Stefo Nantsou’s boisterous, funny and thought-provoking play for young people and their families. It’s not the game that comes under the spotlight, but the high spirits and hot-blooded passion it evokes among spectators; emotions that often spark acts of sheer silliness and sometimes reveal uglier undercurrents of ignorance and prejudice. It’s a theme that goes back to the Romans, yet still finds its way into international headlines on a regular basis – just weeks ago it was the players in international cricket who ignited a racism-fuelled row. Lycos and Nantsou, whose Zeal Theatre brought us their superb play The Stones in 2003, have created another energetic, intelligent production (originally commissioned by the Sydney Theatre Company) that addresses a relevant topic for teenagers while playfully illustrating just how much fun theatre can be. Again Lycos teams up actors Craig Williams and Sam Longley (who performed the two-hander The Stones), this time with South African actors Bheki Mkwhane and Ellis Pearson. Making excellent use of the raked seating in the Subiaco Arts Centre’s main auditorium, the first part of the play has the audience doubling as spectators at a stadium Test match (of what sport is never revealed) between Australia and South Africa. Mkwhane and Pearson are there to support the South Africans with flags flying and an atmosphere enhancing (but banned) trumpet to egg on the crowd. After a couple of run-ins with security (Longley making the authoritative most of his towering physique), Mkwhane’s over-excited fan plays a silly, harmless prank involving the Australian team’s mascot and gets them both booted out of the stadium. Dejected, the pair make their way to a local pub to watch the game, where they soon find themselves at odds with two goofy, knucklehead Australian supporters (Longley and Williams) and before long they all wind up in the back of a paddy wagon. Tightly directed and economically staged with just bench seats for props, the play is a superb platform for the quartet of talented comic actors. Each takes on several roles in addition to their sport-fan characters, shifting at lightning speed between security guards, cops and radio sports commentators. In one of the most comic and brilliantly executed scenes Longley and Mkwhane flip between playing their main characters and Lebanese and Sudanese taxi drivers respectively, while Williams and Pearson alternate between their main characters and crouching down in the taxi to provide sound effects. Like he did in The Stones, Lycos (a former Circus Oz performer) has the cast generate a humorous range of sound effects in a very physical, brisk piece of theatre and the performers each take the considerable challenge in their stride. By the time their competitiveness comes to a head in the lock-up as Pearson and Williams strip off their clothes in the name of winning, their hold on the audience is akin to the deciding moments of a game. Throughout, though, Lycos and Nantsou’s script underscores how something as harmless as a sports match can bring out the worst in people and reveal some broader prejudices. They’ve also got an apt little twist at the end that puts the focus on a culture obsessed with fame and that colour-blind commodity – cash. Don’t miss it. Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/=====\-------