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SA comedy at its best
08/11/2007 09:51 - (SA)
Andrea Botha
Cape Town - It has been a long time since I laughed as hard and as much as during the opening of Die Francois Toerien Show 5 in Cape Town on Wednesday night.
I was wiping tears from my eyes, even doubling over with laughter - no mean feat considering that I'd had a generous dinner before the show.
This show is funny, really funny - and not only by South African standards. This is a top class, professional sketch comedy, proudly advertised as an SA take on well-known and popular British comedy shows Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show.
Fans of these comedy series will not be disappointed. Die Francois Toerien Show 5 indeed offers the same sharp characterisation and witty dialogue - but within a uniquely South African context.
Digs at entertainment figures
One does not have to be Afrikaans either to enjoy the show as the satirical sketches include digs at well-known entertainment figures and include typical scenes from everyday SA life - such as an over-zealous shopping assistant terrorising a hapless customer in a supermarket or a poor-white family being interviewed on Carte Blanche by Ruda Landman (she - or rather her voice - plays a minor part in the show).
The show is in its fifth year and features professional actors such as Francois Toerien, Lorraine Burger, Esther von Waltsleben, Leon Kruger and Martelize Kolver and is directed by Juanita Swanepoel.
The acting is superb, the timing is impeccable and the team is quick as lightning between sketches in arranging their costumes and props. To top it all, their enthusiasm is infectious and the audience is kept thoroughly entertained.
The show opens with a sketch clearly aimed at satirising the likes of local entertainers like Patricia Lewis, with a cheesy singer performing a song at a small town festival with a faulty sound system.
Slick and clever
Leon Kruger is a brilliantly sleazy country doctor whose charming manner reminds a little of Noot vir Noot host Johan Stemmet.
The show ends with a memorable take on Robbie Wessels's Leeuloop - it is called Koekloop.
If you thought Afrikaans comedy was mostly slapstick and silly, along the lines of Vetkoekpaleis and Leon Schuster movies - think again.
Die Francois Toerien Show 5 shows that Afrikaans comedy can be slick and clever.
The show opened at the new Motto Clique Theatre in Gardens, a classy yet casual venue with a restaurant and bar where patrons are able to enjoy dinner or a drink before the show.
Die Francois Toerien Show 5 is on from November 6 to 9 and on November 11. For bookings call the Motto Clique Theatre on 082 897 0380.
- News24
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South Africa
