(Aaron McIlroy &
Lisa Bobbert as the presenters on BNN)
Audiences support Aaron McIlroy and Lisa Bobbert in
their latest bundle of nonsense. (Review by Caroline Smart)
The indomitable Aaron McIlroy and Lisa Bobbert are
back on stage with their hilarious bundle of nonsense, Bloopers.
I use the word “indomitable” because just under two
weeks ago, they were on the eve of their final two shows in Makhanda
(Grahamstown) at the National Arts Festival when they received the news that
their lovely house in Durban North had burnt down.
With wonderful help from Durban family as well as
friends and colleagues taking care of children and pets, they stayed to finish
their shows at the Festival before heading home to face the tragic spectacle of
their ruined house which took a mere 15 minutes to burn to the ground. The
cause is believed to have been an electrical fault. Very few items were able to
be salvaged.
Fortunately, Bloopers
was one of their festival productions so they at least had their costumes and,
despite fighting the flu, they gathered their energies and opened with Bloopers on Wednesday (July 17). This is
the level of professionalism we have come to expect from this much-loved pair
of entertainers, both of whom have a whacky sense of humour, strong movement
skills and a mastery of accents and different voices.
Skilfully directed by Daisy Spencer, Bloopers contains a collection of
sketches with a myriad of off-the-wall characters. The set included a mini
stage complete with curtains and a BNN (Bloopers News Network) TV broadcast
studio.
Here is an extract from Barry Meehan’s review of the
show when it ran at Rhumbelow Tina’s at the end of last year:
“The first half of Bloopers runs at a frenetic pace with Aaron and Lisa
in various outfits, wigs and characters, hurtling from one scenario to another.
Their own brand of comedy never stops, with some very original material and
some internet-inspired, such as the “Songs That Shouldn’t Be Played at Weddings”
segment. Lisa stands out with her drunken mother of the bride speech, with
Aaron excelling in “Things You Don’t say to Your Wife”. The ultimate standout
of the first half for me though, was Aaron’s art critic dissection and
destruction of Lisa’s ABBA standard “Waterloo”. Comedy timing is critical in
this sketch, and both nailed it.”
(Left: Aaron as the critic for Lisa’s “Waterloo”)
These numbers were
also favourites of mine from this half. There was also Lisa as a hilariously
squawking Alicia Cheese who had to fight with a microphone that had its own
agenda!
Barry Meehan continues:
“After interval, we were treated to the Darwin Awards, a tongue-in-cheek
honour, which originated on the internet around the mid-80s. They recognize
individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting
themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own
actions. The two recipients of an Honorary Darwin Award, are a rather horny
Australian outback couple who should have met their maker through their
incredible stupidity while attempting to fish for crocs from their boat but
lived against all odds to tell the tale.”
Lisa blew us all away with her reworded version of Memory from Cats – which portrays a woman who is losing her memory and
sometimes can’t remember who or where she is. One of the lines is …”And is my
house on fire?” The audience went wild with approval. Takes courage to belt out
a line like that at a time like this!
Aaron appears wearing a feathered headband singing Running Bear but we then discover it’s
not a Red Indian but one of his much-loved characters, Vijay Maharaj, who is very much from Durban and has no problem with engaging
with audience members and often good-heartedly insulting some of them.
To finish the show, Aaron and Lisa focus on the Indian
culture with a lively version of the popular Bollywood hit, Jai Ho.
The finale launched the audience into an immediate
standing ovation, their applause and cheers not only appreciating the show but
the courage and pluck of the performers.
In an emotional show of gratitude from the stage,
Aaron acknowledged all the people who had helped them personally with donations
of money, clothes, food, linen and anything that would help build their new
life.
He also paid major tribute to Daisy Spencer, Jackie
Cunniffe (manager of the Sneddon) and technicians/designers Tina le Roux,
Wesley Maherry, Jason Bird, Mike Broderick and Black Coffee.
Bloopers runs at
The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre until July 28, 2019. Please support this show and
help this special family carve their future.
Show times are Tuesdays to Saturdays at 19h30 and
Sundays at 15h00. Duration is approximately 90 minutes including interval. Tickets
R165 (R150 pp for bock bookings of 10 or more). Booked through Computicket on
0861 915 8000, or log onto www.computicket.com – Caroline Smart
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