Thursday evening was culture appreciation night, and in order to get some culture in our souls, Chantelle and I organised to go and see …The Best Man’s Speech’ at the Kalk Bay Theatre, in (believe it or not) Kalk Bay (which for the unmapped is just between Muizenburg and Simon’s Town). – The theatre itself brings new meaning to intimate theatre, being based in an old Church building and seating a mere 79 people around an extremely small …stage’ area. – Nevertheless, it is a joy to be this close and personal with the actors and obviously audience involvement always plays a big role in most of the productions hosted here.
‘The Best Man’s Speech’ is a one-man comedic show that is written and performed by Louw Venter – and directed by Rob van Vuuren (this duo is probably most known for their work together as Corne and Twakkie in …The Most Amazing Show’). The show is still fresh from a highly successful Grahamstown Festival run and basically revolves around the marriage of Sherryl and Shaun to which the audience are guests and are just in time for the Best Man’s speech at the reception.
But weddings being weddings, Louw has already ingested a fair amount of Champagne and his speech of which starts out with the usual quips and jibes consisting of anecdotes and old-school stories rapidly descends into the depths of cringe-worthiness as the increasingly inebriated Louw becomes more and more truthful – and a lot more unstable. And let’s not mention his crush on the bride, shall we?
The show explores the complexities of marriage, kids, parents, love, life and every unmentionable subject in between and Louw delivers as absolutely stunning performance, even as he down glass after glass of champagne right before us (in fact, two bottles fall victim to his thirst).
It is a good performance, a good comedy and a great show, however, if you don’t find inebriated people funny in real life, there is a real possibility that you won’t enjoy this show as much as others. Personally, neither Chantelle and I walked out of the show and were able to say that we really enjoyed it, even if there were a few laugh-out-loud moments that had us chuckling in our seats (watch out for the Pork Chop one in particular!).
A polished performance that will definitely appeal to a particular crowd – namely the lively, boisterous drinkers between the ages of 25 and 35 in all likelihood. Also, if you are a fan of Corne and Twakkie’s exploits on the Silver Screen, then this migh just be the play for you as well.
Enjoy, but don’t drink and drive!
Related link: http://kbt.co.za/?p=155