(Daisy Spencer &
Tryg)
Very funny, splendidly entertaining and heartwarming
one-woman production. (Review by Keith Millar)
So - there is a new baby in the house. Probably the
most wondrous, exhilarating and at the same time terrifying, demanding and
confusing experience you will ever have.
A tiny demanding person completely dependent on you,
but at the same time offering unconditional love. You will probably feel great
happiness and desperate despair in equal measures, and at the same time.
Nearly everything anyone has told you, or that you
have read about, will be out the window and you will have to find your own
defence mechanisms to help you survive this life-changing happening.
In the case of popular Durban actress Daisy Spencer,
she has her brilliant sense of humour and a finely-tuned sense of the
ridiculous to help her survive.
This is apparent from her very funny, splendidly
entertaining and heartwarming one-woman production, What to Expect When You’ve Expected which was launched at Seabrooke’s
Theatre on Friday.
Spencer’s son Tryg is nearly 10 months old and he has
provided his mother with the material for this comical but genuinely perceptive
stand-up comedy show. Topics covered include sleep deprivation, losing weight
after pregnancy, the pros and cons of no longer being pregnant, breastfeeding,
five people you will learn to hate, ‘helpful’ neighbours, Barny the Purple
Dinosaur, Teletubbies, conversations about poo, daddy’s perspective and many
other home truths.
Spencer shows her skills as an actress when
hilariously impersonating characters such as her ever-present neighbour Cookie
(an Indian lady), her maid who is also now the nanny and her Barbie Doll
friend, Melinda.
She was particularly funny when miming, to the song Mr Sandman, what she calls her “nod your
head dance” which is done while trying to rock the baby back to sleep at night.
She also parodied the Barny song with rather more risqué words, and sang her
own rap song on the subject of rearing a baby.
What to Expect When
You’ve Expected will strike a chord with anyone who is fortunate
enough to have had a baby in the house. Everyone else will enjoy it for its
humour and for a splendid performance of a very skilled actress.
Unfortunately, there was only one performance of this
enjoyable production. I hope that it will be revived in the near
future and that it will then enjoy the support it deserves. – Keith Millar
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