The Karaoke Twist - Christmas Special

'The Karaoke Twist – Christmas Special’, by local playwright by John Grimshaw, is the latest production from A Lad in Sane, in association with the Phoenix Theatre Inc. It is showing at the Phoenix Theatre (within the Memorial Hall) at the corner of Rockingham Road and Carrington Street, Hamilton Hill. The performances are nightly at 8.00 until Saturday 13^th Dec. Two matinee sessions are on the 6^th and 13^th December.

         Seated in a café having a cup of coffee, is athletic, smooth (as a porcupine’s bum) Matt (Tony Minchin), a hunk who has been around a bit, and is every woman’s dream - well at least in his own mind! With him is his best friend, introverted, couch potato, Paul (Kallum Mansfield) a total loser, admitting that he is desperate for a girlfriend, his last being more than two years earlier. Matt decides that his pal desperately needs a makeover, both mentally and visually.

        Not far away, hot bimbo Sophie (Katherine Hazlewood), who has not had sex since last night, sees an advert for a karaoke competition, and the main prize is ‘to die for’. She is desperate to enter and so sets about manipulating her shy, unappealing sidekick, Janet (Sinéad Bevan) into joining her in the contest. When the two boys see the same shopping centre advert and meet the girls, the real competition starts.

         When the Karaoke MC (Jim Barton) starts to introduce the contestants acts, a bundle of laughs results. Just before the two hilarious double acts, is a sheep farmer from Kojunup, Willie Small (Ray Rummer), with some country humour.

Director Johnny Grim is a fun loving guy who likes to give everyone a chance, here he has two of his well-proven regulars but he has also given three major parts to first timers on the adult / community stage. Any director will tell you that handling one new actor can be a nightmare, but here Katherine, Tony and Kallum were word perfect, tremendous body language and a natural comedic timing.

This is John’s third version of this play, and his best. The full house loved the well-observed political incorrectness of Matt and the tarty comments from Sophie.

As this show is written around teenagers, it has fresh (but not obscene) language, and it demanded that all of the actors to leave their safe zones, which they did with gusto.

Good lighting, excellent stereo sound (Rob Harwood), inventive costumes and swift scene changes (John Davison)

This is the third time that I have seen this madcap show. The format has been changed since its inception in 2006, but it continues to be a good giggle at Christmas. I can recommend it not only to local audiences, but also to any small theatre group who have a fun-loving cast and are looking for an established Aussie bawdy, Christmas draw-card.

Yet again John has given some of the takings to charity, last night it was $751, good on ya John.