(Tom Read, Pauline
Dalais, Caroline Smart, Sivani Chinappan & Hamish Kyd, with Mayuri Naidu,
Kajal Bagwandeen & Mpume Mthombeni in front. Pic by Val Adamson)
Exciting new venture kept the opening night audience in
stitches. (Review by Janet Whelan)
Friday night saw the opening of Durban’s experimental live
radio production in the form of Lollipop
Lane – The Big Biscuit Bake-Off when, due to public demand, Clinton
Marius’s record-breaking radio comedy, Lollipop
Lane, morphs into a serialized stage show, bringing back to life the
much-loved characters who entertained listeners for four years.
The new series will be staged as a bi-monthly theatrical
radio comedy, performed before a live audience. The aim is also to take it “on
the road” to suburban areas to reach a wider audience.
Produced and directed by Caroline Smart, the first episode,
sub-titled The Big Biscuit Bake-Off,
was presented in four parts. There is rivalry between the bakers of Lollipop
Lane and Mr Munch, a commercial biscuit company. A three-round bake-off is
planned, which is broadcast on a local radio station, interspersed with an
authentic radio jingle and amusing advertisements much like the hugely popular
Springbok Radio comedy productions that came from Durban – Tom Meehan’s Men from the Ministry, Father, Dear Father
and The Navy Lark. Hence we see/hear
a radio report within a live radio recording of a radio serial!
Mrs Singh-Song, played by Sivani Chinappan, and her side-kick, Mrs Singh-Singh,
played by Pauline Dalais, are the main characters and the bakers of Lollipop
Lane, while Mrs Khan, played by Mayuri Naidu, is the landlady.
During a visit to the Mr Munch biscuit shop Mrs Sing-Song, Mrs
Singh-Singh and the distributor, Aishwarya, played by Kajal Bagwandeen, are
overheard arguing by radio presenter, DJ Dollar, played by Mpume Mthombeni, who
challenges them to a bake-off. What follows is a hilarious series of events
which kept Friday night’s audience in stitches.
Others in the cast are Hamish Kyd, Tom Read and Caroline Smart, who play
a variety of characters between them.
This exciting new venture will subsequently be broadcast on
Tape Aids for The Blind’s DSTV channel and ultimately benefit its members.
Lollipop Lane – The
Big Biscuit Bake-Off has one more
performance at Catalina Theatre on Wilson’s Wharf this afternoon (October 26) at
14h30. Tickets R100 available through Computicket outlets, or telephonically on
0861 915 8000, or online at www.computicket.com
– Janet Whelan
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