GEORGE NEWS - The George Arts Theatre building might be an old dame with achy bones but theatre is alive and well regardless!
The Comedy Tapas show, which ran from 1–5 May, was well supported by the local patrons and the various casts were in top form, each with their own unique blend of comic wit.
The first comedy was in Afrikaans, “Vlot ter see” and was the story of 3 friends who found themselves shipwrecked. With nothing to eat or drink, they decide that one of them will need to be eaten for the others to survive - a tough decision resulting in hilarious processes, unexpectedly solved by the arrival of the postman.
The second play took us back in time to an era when gentleman needed a chaperone when courting a young lady. Nothing is straightforward when you are in love but always with company.
With Charley’s Aunt’s arrival delayed, a friend has to stand in and pretend to be the aunt. Not an easy feat for a gentleman, but well played when the poor “lady” receives two proposals of marriage in one night! In all the chaos, the real aunt arrives to add to the malady. This side-splitting farce at least had a happy ending after all the pandemonium, so as they say, all’s well that ends well.
The Tapa’s Bar was reminiscent of the TV show, “Cheers” and the audience was privy to various conversations happening in the bar.
Three elderly ladies discuss the latest gossip and a new chicken farm that has opened with extremely amusing wordplay and misunderstandings about freshly laid eggs. A tragic situation of a husband who is feeling unappreciated and overwhelmed by life, an uncle and his niece discussing their Padel games and a desperate barfly who is pouring his heart out to the bartender - all in all, much ado about nothing, but hilariously punny.
Finally, the evening ended with the age-old classic, Dinner for One. Penny de Villiers and Coenie Ritter had the audience in stitches with their unique characterisation of Miss Sophie and her butler James.
The plays and the food were great, the wine even better, and there is much life yet in the Theatre’s old bones.
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
