DIRTY WORDS. Written by Jon Keevy. Directed by Andrew Laubscher. Performed by Maggie Gericke and Sanda Shandu. Alexander Bar.
MEGAN FURNISS reviews
I saw the first version of Dirty Words a few years ago and I remember loving it, but not being able to remember any of the specifics. Watching this incarnation was a reminder and more. It is delicious – the perfect balance of silly, sexy, funny and witty.
Dirty Words is made up of a series of scenes that all have sex and words in common, but in different styles, characters and combinations. Love, sex, words, poetry, flowers, sexy flowers, shy innocents, experienced lovers, and many more all raise their heads (see what I did there?).
Clothes hung on a string at the back of the stage allow the actors to do changes in front of the audience, and with perfect scene change music they end up being like little strip shows themselves.
Maggie Gericke and Sanda Shandu are versatile and fluid as they slip into the different roles and they also have a lovely magnetism between them. The hilarity and risqué-ness builds, taking the audience along, and before you know it you are weeping with laughter while a man is schooled by a sex word dominatrix, or an online sex chat turns totally weird and a fantasy expands to fighting ninjas with a ‘meat sword’. My favourite Sanda moment was his pretend Afrikaans guy on the online sex chat. And Maggie’s hysterically prude interviewer of the poet was kak funny. (I did think that that scene might be the perfect one to role switch; maybe in its next staging?)
The audience tonight adored the show, tautly and cleverly directed by Andrew Laubscher, and I loved watching them move from titillated shock to abandoned guffaws as they allowed themselves to indulge in the Dirty Words of it all. Andrew knows when to extend a moment, or to let it run on. Pure comedy is achieved in an almost orgasmic build up.
And Jon’s text is very funny, witty and clever. We all bounced down the stairs with a certain spring in our step.
What: Dirty Words
Where and when: Alexander Bar from 25 – 30 October and 5 – 7 November 2019
Tickets: Here
WS
