Fiona Gordon: David Kramer weaves multicultural magic at The Baxter with his 3 Wiser Men.
Cape Town comedians Marc Lottering, Nik Rabinowitz and Riaad Moosa again join forces for the silly season, under acclaimed director David Kramer, to help South Africans learn about, and laugh at, others and themselves.
The three take it in turns to impart their nuggets of wisdom, as they dissect the peculiarities of living in South Africa through the experiences of ‘everyman’ – from the ‘trappe van vergelyking’ taught in the primary school Afrikaans syllabus, to the police, to the differences between shopping at Checkers, Pick n’ Pay and Woolies, to much about airports and aeroplanes. Of course there is the requisite joke at Eskom’s expense and references to our television culture. It seems some of their newfound wisdom comes from the perspective of parenthood, as even Barney gets some airtime. With the help of Donveno Prins and his dynamic onstage band, they even take a turn to sing a tune or two.
They’re great on their own, but their interactions when they’re together is what makes the show. The ‘magic’ element is not quite slick enough to be successful, but Marc is super fab as the assistant in a spangly dress and the highest heels. Their ‘alter-personalities’ Beryl, Ayesha and Merle meet for their annual tea – this time at Mrs (Beryl) Rosenberg’s Sea Point home (of course, my doll-ing), where they exchange greetings and gifts, and some of the delightful drama of online interactions.
Their respective abilities to harness different accents and aspects of language is undoubtedly one of the great strengths of the show, and is put to use in a skit featuring caricatures of local characters through the eyes of a foreign visitor, suggesting all sorts of things for 2010.
The main ‘weakness’ of the show is also its strength, and lies in the fact that it is impossible for anyone to ‘get’ all the jokes. Realise that there will be things that go over your head – true for some people more than others, perhaps, but it is impossible to understand (sometimes even recognise) every layer of this multiplicitous performance. But this diversity also makes it extremely accessible.
The beauty of this show lies in the exploration of the multiple cultures that make up the kaleidoscope of Cape Town; and how through that, the audience – no matter who they are – is given a window into other worlds, and a glimpse of their own; as something of everyone is represented on this stage.
3 Wiser Men runs at the Baxter Theatre from 18 November 2009 to 9 January 2010 and tickets cost from R75 to R120 via Computicket. Performances run from Mondays to Fridays at 20h00 and on Saturdays at 18h00 and 21h00. There is a PG 16 rating on this show.
Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za
www.artslink.co.za
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