(Stuart Taylor)
All Stuart Taylor’s
experience is brought to bear in his polished and professional performance.
(Review by Keith Millar)
South Africa seems
to have an abundance of excellent stand-up comedians – and the urbane Stuart
Taylor certainly fits that description. The Cape Town comic is currently
visiting Durban and will be appearing at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre until April
25.
The definition of Bespoke, the title of Taylor’s show, is
custom-made or tailor-made. This is not only a nice little play on words, but is
also a very apt description of the content of Taylor’s offering. He uses a
conversational style and feeds off the interaction with his audience to develop
the content of his show. The result is a show which has a very personal feel,
and in its own way is quite evocative. I imagine that, depending on the
audience, each night’s offering could be quite different from the others.
Having said that, the
show itself is very funny and offers great entertainment. Taylor is a
personable and relaxed performer. He is very quick-witted and relates
excellently with his audience. However, a word of warning, don’t arrive late or
you will be teased unmercifully.
Taylor chats about
issues as varied as dating, social media, speaking isiXhosa, breasts,
performing an English show at the KKNK Afrikaans festival in the Karoo and the
vagaries of living in the formerly whites only suburb of Constantia in Cape
Town. Like all fathers, one of his favourite topics is his relationship with
his young children along with their crazy antics and behaviour. He also managed
to thread his way through a minefield while discussing the racial labels given
to people.
Taylor is a past recipient
of the Overall Best Comedy Award at the National Arts Festival and has also been
declared South Africa’s Comedy Magic Champion on three occasions. He has had
considerable experience performing both locally and abroad, and will also be
fondly remembered as the presenter of the popular TV programme, Going Nowhere Slowly.
All this experience
is brought to bear in his polished and professional performance.
Bespoke is no holds barred, flat out, stand-up comedy. It offers very good and very
funny entertainment.
The production
which is rated PGs16 for language can be seen at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre
at UKZN until April 26 from Tuesdays to Saturdays at 19h30. Tickets R120 booked
via Computicket. Phone 0861 915 8000 or on-line at www.computicket.com or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet. Discounts
are available for students and block bookings. – Keith Millar
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