FAT KIDS ARE HARDER TO KIDNAP

This is a fun,  light hearted piece of theatre from a troupe of theatre makers who have come all the way from Singapore to perform.

The show is a close cousin to improv theatre/theatre sports . How it worked was that there was a clothesline hung across the stage. On the clothesline were hung some 31 short topics on paper that were numbered. On one side of the paper was the number, on the other side the topic. The audience were asked to call out one of the numbers. The number was taken off the clothesline and then members  of the troupe – there were five in all –  performed the skit. After the skit was performed, the actors called out ‘Next’ waiting for the audience to call out the next number.

This was all carried out under the time pressure  of a digital clock behind them which kicked off at 60 minutes and counted down to zero, before which the performers had to have finished off all their skits.

On the night this talented troupe of performers finished their skits with just a minute and a half to spare. An interesting aside was that one of the last numbers to be selected was the number 13.

The topics ranged widely across subjects. There was ‘Talking to Children about Penguins’ which saw a .mother reading to her young daughter a book on sex education which proved to be very embarrassing. The performer who played the young child did so very well, putting an a cute ‘baby’ voice.

In sort of a similar vein there was a quite poignant piece about gender issues. The parents are arguing about how to raise their child. The four year old boy identifies strongly with female things, loves dolls and likes to put a dress on. The mother is supportive of the child and his choices whilst the father is furious and wants the child to be brought up as a boy with male values.

A  funny piece was called ‘Double Negative’. A woman asks a man how her pants look and gets a negative response. I’m sure this is a skit a lot of women can relate to.

There was a skit called ‘Trade Wars’ which cleverly referenced the current America China trade wars. One of the performers played a ukulele for this piece.

‘Ode to U-Tube’ featured  some good dancing with signs written on the performers arms.

The skit  ‘Tap  Tap’ was a clever commentary on how so many things are now purchased by having tap a card, even when it comes to riding buses. It focused on how sometimes we can’t find the card and we have to go through all our pockets to  find the damn thing.

There was a skit on ‘Fast Food Nation’ with an encounter in Macdonalds with a customer just wanting McNuggets and the Macdonalds guy wanting to sell her something more elaborate.

There was a clever, comic swipe at Marie Kondo and the Art of Decluttering with ‘Mary and the fruit stall’.

‘We’re poor because of You’ featured parents discussing their children and how the last child has blown their budget sky high and they can no longer buy things that they wanted to buy. Kind of melancholic piece but with a bit of humour thrown in.

As you now tell a  wide variety of topics were thrown in the mix and they were told frenetically and with plenty of humour.

“The five vibrant performers were Ross Nasir, Pavan J Singh, Carina McWhinnie. Vester Ng and Day Cutiongco. The skits were all written by the talented Melissa Sim and Jeremy Au Yong.” Highly recommended, FAT KIDS ARE HARDER TO KIDNAP IN SYDNEY is playing Erskineville Town Hall until 28th September, nightly at 9.15pm.