If I were to judge ‘Nothing to Laugh About 4’ based on its opening sketch the review would be harsh because while we laugh at just about anything, some jokes are distasteful and really should be for private laughs.
But thankfully the sketch was short, which meant the focus on human waste ended within the same breath that it started. This is where the poor critique of the show ends for it picked up from there dishing out solid comedy throughout the 2-hour long production.
Maria Benschop’s writing has come under heavy scrutiny before though it is not debatable that she understands what audiences find funny. She can be credited for sustaining the production and delivering better sketches as it matured over the years, but this time she didn’t do it alone.
Maria use a string of new writers for her satirical comedy production—now four years old—and the decision proved a smart one; new voices were evident as some of the skits rolled on.
‘Nothing to Laugh About 4’ had it all; from the usual ones about race and politics to corruption in the Guyana Police Force and without fail, the ubiquitous gay jokes. The plight of the Stabroek Market vendors also came through in the sketches, but without the intensity and range of actress, Miranda Austin the jokes would’ve all fallen flat.
There was something about Austin that came through in every appearance she made on stage; she has presence. The sketches with her were alive and she knows how to channel anger on a stage; her screams are deafening and her rage, a crazed kind of fury that people ought to stay clear of.
Austin, throughout the production, delivered a string of solid performances, and of course, laughs. She appeared in one of the Stabroek Market scenes and as her interaction with a police officer unfolded on the stage the believability was awesome. She railed against the removal of vendors and stressed her plight as a single parent mother. The officer, torn between empathizing and being afraid of her, barely had any answers for her.
Maria and her new crop of writers explored a number of themes in ‘Nothing to Laugh About 4’; bringing to life tales of single parent struggles, police corruption, racial tensions in the country, infidelity, the risks associated with social networking sites and a harsh reality of political campaigning ahead of elections. The homosexual jokes were there including men dressed in drag, but the humour was not enough to drown out the serious issues which the writers attempted to make light of.
Without question, director and actor, Linden ‘Jumbie’ Jones carried the show. Austin aside, it could have easily been a one-man production and the impact would have been no different. Jones, unarguably one of the better stand-up comedians in the country, if not the best currently, entertained the audience between skits and he was at his best. His material is appealing because it is always fresh and he took on a number of things during the show, barely allowing people to recover from one joke as he jumped right into the next.
Jones was in his element in one of the better skits of the production when he took on the role of an elderly man living among uncaring relatives; the audience couldn’t get enough of this particular one.
Actor Chris Gopaul, who appeared in numerous sketches, also came over as convincing in his roles as a reject and bumbling police officer.
By the time the curtains came down it was clear why people continue to support Maria and her ‘baby’. The issues are real and topical, the actors are solid in their roles and the jokes are undeniably funny.
