The Manoel Theatre was packed to the rafters for DNA Theatre Production’s riotous return to the stage with Four Play Four. Four actors, four directors, and four years since the wildly successful run of Even More Four Play, the political satire and bawdy humour had audiences howling with laughter from start to finish.
Original performers Alan Montanaro, Louiselle Vassallo and Isabel Warrington were back for the fourth edition of the show, with Edward Mercieca joining for the first time. With their sights set on hitting every possible target on Malta’s political scene, the four comedians brought the house down with their outrageous impressions and antics.
Hotly anticipated by all Four Play veterans was, of course, the return of Alan Montanaro’s famous Defsa Garuana Malizia sketch. Montanaro’s caricature of Malta’s most infamous opinionist drips with venom and malicious glee- almost like one of his beloved panto dames turned to the Dark Side. Written by Montanaro himself and directed by Herman Grech, the sketch was definitely one of the highlights of the evening.
Another of Montanaro’s sketches, lambasting passport sales in the ‘Forrin Orifice’ also brought the house down. But, this time, it was Louiselle Vassallo’s chatty bureaucrat who really stole the show. If it meant more of Vassallo’s deadpan delivery and on-point comic timing, I think I could watch a whole show’s worth of the continuing misadventures of Chenticienne Marie Chetcuti.
Some brilliant comedy moments are packed into the show
If that mouthful of a name weren’t enough, special mention definitely has to be made of Edward Mercieca’s crooned list of highly questionable baby names in ‘Golly, what a name!’, by Joseph Zammit. Showing off his skills on the guitar, Mercieca took us through the regrettable (and unfortunately real) names bestowed upon some of the island’s youngest residents.
Of the four musical or dance-based comedy segments in the show, I felt that this was the definitely strongest contender, while the ‘Dance Through The Ages’ sketch ending Act 1 did not pack enough punchlines into its slightly lengthy runtime.
An honourable mention of Isabel Warrington’s politically-charged Eurovision send up ‘Warrior’ (written and directed by Chiara Hyzler) is also very much deserved. As is often the case with the Manoel Theatre, the sound balance between the backing music and the vocals was less than ideal, but Warrington’s powerful pipes (and a little help from some handy subtitles) brought us through with a number of laughs.
One of the best decisions made by producers and directors Alan Montanaro and Denise Mulholland was certainly the inclusion of video interludes in the production. The hilarious wedding-video themed video sketches interspersed between sketches kept the audience’s energy and attention while the actors prepared for their next onstage appearance.
Shot and edited by VSquared media, the videos were a great addition to the show’s repertoire.
Special mention has to made of my personal favourite sketch by Malcolm Galea, ‘Make Me a Dedication’, whose RTK radio host had me clutching my sides.
As I sit giggling over the memory of a particularly spot-on impression of Eileen Montesin, I’m already eager to find out what political faux pas we’ll be ripping to pieces the next time Four Play takes to the stage.