Arabesque blah-esque

I normally look forward to what the Dazzle Troupe has to offer in its biannual irreverent burlesque shows. Their last effort, however, left much to be desired.

Ms Stivala made the best of her role and gave her character a solidity which was often lacking in other sketches- André Delicata

The majority of the performance, which consisted of the usual collection of sketches, felt forced and haphazardly thrown together, even though there was a central theme – that of a wedding gone wrong somewhere in the Middle East.

Pete Farrugia’s recurring character, Mammy – a straight-talking black mamma who never takes aggro from anyone – made a comeback and although his interpretation was funny, it felt as though it were contrived specifically for cheap laughs this time round.

I was very disappointed with the sketch The Dungeon For Rejected Brides mainly because two excellent character actors were under-used, while the rest of the supporting cast, bar the girl playing the Canadian Tourist (who was actually funny in a confusing way), fell short of impressing me.

Bettina Borg Cardona is a great character actress but her Bambi – a bimbo socialite with a unicorn fetish, who looked like the love child of Charlie the Unicorn (You Tube meme) and a My Little Pony – was quite weak and didn’t engage the audience the way her previous characters used to.

Teo Reljic, who made a very short, nominal appearance as a drunken sailor, was another good actor whom we could have seen more of that evening.

The major fault of the evening was the lack of cohesiveness within each individual sketch.

Conceptually Camelia Delilah the Human Camel had the potential to be interesting but it was rather shoddily executed and certainly dragged on for too long.

Staging also served some of the scenes badly, with Imħabba Romentik Belid having a very positive message, but very strained staging which felt too forced.

I did enjoy The Case of the Dead Sheikh despite its very random ending, starring Veronica Stivala as Florence of Arabia, a Miss Marple caricature with the smugness of Hercule Poirot.

Ms Stivala made the best of her role and gave her character a solidity which was often lacking in other sketches.

I also enjoyed the performances of the young lady who played the Slutty Genie in Lamps for Tramps – her tongue–in-cheek send-up of an American feminist activist was funny – as was her portrayal of Cleopatra in Serpent In De Nile, a femme fatale to Joe Zammit’s randy Mohammed.

The most polished performance of the evening was a sequence of three instalments of a mock radio drama, Żmeraldi Msewwsa ,narrated by Alex Vella Gregory as Francesco del Popolo.

Its suggestive lines and ludicrous plotline were a perfect send-up of the old-fashioned and very popular radju drammi on Maltese radio.

Here’s hoping that the next edition of the Burlesque show will live up to its past achievements and that it won’t lose its dark humour and clever quips.