Skip to main content

The Chester Missing Road Show: Review

Ventriloquist: “A performer who projects the voice into a wooden dummy”.

Chester and Conrad are a bag of jokes a minute! Thanks to Market Theatre for the pic 
Oh what a lovely show Conrad Koch, the man behind ChesterMissing, delivered. I was in stitches most of the night. The only other South African comedian who has a similar effect on me is Kagiso Lediga.


For about an hour or so, Conrad kept us fully engaged with his three puppets and began with a bit of a stand up without a puppet. We live in a world where engaging with the audience is key and highly appreciated; Conrad did this well, without it seeming forced. 

South African politics are tricky. At any given moment you can be counter-revolutionary if you are a black person or racist if you are white. Comedians are a special breed because they get away with saying the craziest, most insulting things about politicians or celebrities, and that person might end up laughing. 

But I guess that’s the beauty rooted in comedy; for a split second we stop being angry and laugh our hearts out.

Although layered in wit the comments this puppet makes are uncomfortable truths. Before I get ahead of myself and continue referring to Chester as though he has a mind of his own, let’s remember he is a puppet with a puppet master; Conrad.  

I started this blog post with the definition of a ventriloquist. That’s simply because ventriloquism is not something I am used to.

When I think ventriloquism I think of the number of horror movies that I watched as a kid that involved murderous puppets; think Chucky! Never in my young life did I ever think that a ventriloquist would appeal to my sense of humour.

But Conrad has managed to make something so foreign to me, tangible and appealing in the form of Chester Missing, a loud mouth “political analyst”.

This puppet has so much of a life of its own one would actually start believing that it could actually walk away from Conrad and do a solo.

If you are clueless about current affairs, don’t bother attending this show; you will get bored. The whole show is a jab at politicians, and everybody that has been making headlines lately; all things CURRENT AFFAIRS.

No one was safe; Kenny Kunene’s whoring ways, Julius Malema’s weight, the Gupta’s and City Press Editor, Ferial Haffejee, who had opted to sit front row (never sit in front at a comedy show….NEVER).

Chester shares the stage with Hillary (the alcoholic diva ostrich) and Ronnie (the green monster). Conrad carries these different roles so well, not only depending on oral presentation for laughter but giving the puppets such amazing personalities.

Hillary swooned and flirted, Ronnie behaved like a needy toddler and Chester was egotistical and dismissing (laughing at his own jokes). I thought I’d find the whole thing weird but I actually had a lot of fun.

The show is on at the Market Theatre until 2 June 2013.

Comments

  1. Anonymous6 May 2013 at 09:42

    Brilliant article I will go out and watch this show lol! - Sizwe CSAY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tokiso M. Mbatha6 May 2013 at 09:43

      Thanks for reading! Please share with your people Sizwe. And after watching it, I'd like your thoughts on it :-).

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Curious Case of Pinky Pinky: The Toilet Tokoloshe

There was once a Tokoloshe, her name was Pinky Pinky – she lived in the girls’ school toilets, sang a song that introduced her and told you about her parents. She’d then end the song by demanding you give her something. Thanks to Pinky Pinky, her choice of location and her singing – I've yet to feel completely comfortable using public toilets. I first heard about Pinky Pinky when I was in Sub A (now known as Grade 1). She terrorized girls my age, demanding money or (as I recently heard) stole their panties. I think she’d also want whatever pink item you had on you. If you couldn't give in to Pinky Pinky’s demands – you were in big trouble. I don’t remember the details of what she’d do to you but what I knew is that it would be painful. Pinky Pinky was so dangerous she even made it into a national newspaper – although they used a blurry picture. There were different stories told about how she looked – none mentioned a beautiful creature. Her looks were things horror mo...
23 comments
Read more

Book Review: London, Cape Town, Joburg

What a miserable ending to a really soul capturing novel! London, Cape Town, Joburg by ZukiswaWanner had me hooked from day one but I must say, I was never really ready for that ending – plot twist of note. To be fair, the story starts with two parents mourning their only son who had committed suicide. From the onset you know that something really bad must have happened for a thirteen-year-old to kill himself but before the author lets us in on the reason, she takes us through one of the best, heart-warming, authentic love stories I have read in a while. Martin O’Malley and Germaine Spencer, are two imperfect people who come together and build what seems like a perfect nest. They understand each other, defend each other, fight, make up, have loads of sex and most importantly love and respect one another. I loved every moment of their love story. From the insecurities, jealous moments, moving from city to city and how they grew into such cool, yet strict parents. Wanner t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Play Review: Asinamali!

*Black Humour : “ humour that deals with unpleasant aspects of life in a bitter or ironic way” Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Oh what a show! Set in a South African prison during Apartheid; five prisoners tell us how they ended up behind bars. One man stutters, another believes that he was falsely accused, another was back-stabbed by a cousin, another idolized a con man and another had an affair with his employer's wife. While watching the multi-awards winning South African classic play, Asinamali, I experienced a bitter/sweet moment. The sweet was all the laughing I was doing; the bitter was the fact that Apartheid was a dehumanising cruel system. Thanks to the Market Theatre for the Pic Written by the legendary Mbongeni Ngema , Asinamali was inspired by the 1983 rent strike in Lamontville Township, KwaZulu-Natal. Led by activist Msizi Dube the people of Lamontville wanted the government to know “we do not have money” ( Asinamali ) when rent was increas...
1 comment
Read more