‘State Fracture’ hits the funny bone – but not that accurately
AFTER the resounding success of Pay Back the Curry from the trio of writer Mike van Graan, director Rob van Vuuren and actor Daniel Richards, expectations of a sequel naturally run high – which is not always to the advantage of the subsequent show. Despite flashes of brilliance in Van Graan’s acerbic script, which give proof of his mental agility regarding puns and word-play, and the stupendous energy of Richards, who sustains a relentless pace of delivery in the course of an hour or so of non-stop performance, one has a sense being underwhelmed by State Fracture.
From the offer of a cocktail at the Saxonwold Shebeen, this latest one-hander proceeds to tackle a range of material, all of which pertains directly or indirectly to corruption and state capture; references to a certain Indian family pepper the monologue, with many a swipe at the individuals currently peopling South Africa’s political landscape.
This may be music to the ears of an audience disillusioned by the present state of affairs in this country, but its very familiarity becomes a problem when it’s so predictable. Much as satirical comment on the status quo resonates with listeners, there is little or nothing to startle or refresh; State Fracture preaches to the converted.
In addition to lack of novelty in the script’s content, the presentation leaves something to be desired since there is not sufficient variety in the physical staging to do justice to Richards’s considerable talent. Jumping on and off a box centre-stage, sounding a few blasts on a harmonica or plucking a guitar does not add much to interest to proceedings.
These reservations aside, State Fracture is not without choice sequences – such as the competition of local chickens with dumped foreign poultry as a clever metaphor for xenophobia, or the inventiveness of new lyrics to the Leonard Cohen hit Hallelujah (“Hello Looters”). Hlaudi, late of the SABC, has a priestly rant; Helen Zille’s injudicious praise of colonialism comes under the unwelcome glare of attention; and in a Karaoke-style collage of Abba hits, the Gupta’s use of Waterkloof is cunningly referenced in the slight distortion of Waterloo. Although it suffers by comparison with its predecessor, State Fracture is still well worth a visit, if only to confirm the malaise of citizens in today’s South Africa.