Kenton Capers keep laughs coming during festive season
JON HOUZET
EVEN with their smallest cast ever, this season of Kenton Capers proved thoroughly entertaining as organisers put their heart and soul into a humour-filled, well-choreographed production.
It is the 19th season Alex/Kenton Round Table has produced the Kenton Capers, a biannual event since 1976. The show was held at the Kenton town hall.
The full cast of ten burst onto the stage for the opening number – a very good rendition of the can-can, with the ladies flashing family-friendly bloomers.
| RAISING TEMPERATURES: Daleen du Toit dolled up as Marilyn Monroe to sexily serenade Jacques van Wyk’s Santa in Santa Baby, one of the skits in the Kenton Capers Picture: JON HOUZET |
Convenor Alan Malan welcomed the audience and reminisced about the history of the capers, recalling how they had sometimes been politically incorrect to periods they had been too afraid to say anything controversial.
Youngsters in the audience may not have got all the jokes, but their parents laughed and tapped their feet at familiar old songs and pop culture references.
The story-song, Coward of the County, begs to be acted out, and Malan did a good job as the "cowardly” hero who wreaks vengeance on the villains who attacked his beloved Becky.
The younger set could appreciate The Greengrocer skit, where the greengrocer and a customer have fun punning modern technology like Apple and Blackberry.
There was a new spin on Jack and the Beanstalk, where we learn why the giant could smell the blood of an Englishman.
Malan returned to the stage with an old favourite – the Christmas cake recipe which calls for much "checking” of the wine.
In the second segment, Daleen du Toit sexily lip-synched Marilyn Monroe’s Santa Babyas she got Jacques van Wyk all hot and bothered as Santa.
The topical subject of burglaries in Kenton came into play in A Twitch of the Curtain, as Chantelle and Ockie Goosen realise too late not to be so distracted by what’s happening at the neighbours’ house.
Barcelona elicited the biggest belly-laughs of the evening, with Rudi and Este Franz perfectly acting out the power duet of Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé.
Most of the cast was involved in The Emperor’s New Clothes, which had a contemporary South African twist. The king has no qualms taking money from pothole repairs and the health department to pay for his invisible garment.
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A LAUGH RIOT: Rudi Franz perfectly rendered Freddie Mercury and his wife Este played Montserrat Caballé in their hilarious acting out of the power ballad Barcelona in the Kenton Capers Picture: JON HOUZET |
When one of the spotlights blew during the next skit, the cast took it in their stride.
Dinner for Two, in the third segment, was the longest skit, but Malan and Rudi Franz kept the laughs coming.
The audience also learned how the brassiere was spared from being named after its actual founder.
The men who participated in the Evolution of Dance deserved extra applause for their energetic performance, especially Guillym Theron who enthusiastically led the way, from the twist to the Backstreet Boys and beyond.
There are two more performances of the Capers, this Friday and Saturday night (January 4 and 5) at 8pm. Tickets at R100 each can be obtained from Robyn van Rensburg, ERA Kenton Estates on (046) 648-1212.
