…..SoSuterBill…..

Stage: Bump & Grind – Northlands Bowling Club Rhumbelow
stage, Durban North, until January 4)
REVIEW BY BILLY SUTER

ANOTHER festive season means another sparkly cracker of song, dance and off-the-wall humour from Durban darlings Lisa Bobbert and Aaron McIlroy, whose latest supper theatre production, Bump & Grind, is a hodge-podge of giddy good fun that is perfect for the silly season.

Once again under the direction of Daisy Spencer, and performing her choreography, the MacBob husband-and-wife team presents the usual lucky dip of characters, both familiar and new, and performs to backing tracks in front of changing images on a raised screen, in a colourful parade of costumes, wigs and accents.

The result is a slick and cheerful entertainment that opens with new characters in avatar aliens, Alga and Rhythm, a robotic duo that performs a bit of Talking Heads before delivering messages of goodwill that mask a plan for domination.

We then have Lisa, still in her opening number’s silvery skirt and blue, pig-tailed wig, performing a good rendition of Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra, after which Aaron steals the spotlight as a plump, Vegas-era Elvis, complete with curled lip, for Heartbreak Hotel. He also presents a fine, serious performance of Always on My Mind, after Lisa bounces back on stage in bodysuit and cape, for Burning Love.

Fan favourites, the whining Charmaine and her hen-pecked husband Bruce, also make an appearance in the show, as does talkaholic Veejay Moodley, who here raises laughter with rambling discussion ranging from complaints in general, to the benefits of constant movement, the Titanic movie and the woes of Humpty Dumpty.

The first half closes on a high note with Lisa and Aaron as pensioners Dot and Max. The fun starts with Dot presenting a comical, lyrically reworked version of I Went to a Marvellous Party which recalls a pensioner birthday party that exceeded all expectations. Then we have Aaron arriving with a zimmer-frame to join Dot on a couch for amusing discussions about everything from ungrateful grandkids to the disadvantages of women outnumbering men at the retirement home.

The first half closes with a bit of Beatles before we have Aaron and Lisa returning after a break with flamenco flair and the audience being taught a dance. Other highlights include a new character in an Irish preacher who performs George Michael’s Faith and fancies himself as a bit of a standup comic; Lisa in a sincere and engaging delivery of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s When You Believe; and a closing medley of ’80s chart stompers that gets everybody clapping and tapping along.

Tickets for Bump & Grind cost R220 each (R200 for pensioners and R180 for under-13s). Performances are until January 4 and booking is at Webtickets or by mailing Roland Stansell at roland@stansell.co.za