Theatre
Even More FourPlay
Sir Temi Zammit Hall

With the vast amount of fodder that abounded over the summer, it was impossible not to expect a revue show early in the theatre season – the comedy eased the audience into a positive mood with a nod and a half to all the slightly whacky situations and current news items which have been dominating the media over the past few months, mocking them mercilessly into a palatable evening of entertainment.

DnA Theatre Productions certainly delivered with their latest instalment of Even More FourPlay. Cleverly punning on the concept of “four” – this series of light-hearted sketches with little depth other than local social satire, works very well on the premise of four actors, playing multiple roles in different sketches devised by four writers, with four directors giving their input, while still producing a cohesive whole. The sketches were written and developed by James Calvert, Malcolm Galea, Alan Montanaro and Denise Mulholland, who also directed, along with Herman Grech, Wesley Ellul, Chiara Hyzler; with choreography by Emma Loftus.

The first act was, on the whole, generally more lively, starting off with a ridiculous Burleskk dance as a taster of what was to come. The highlights of this half of the show happened to be scripted by Alan Montanaro and Malcolm Galea. Louiselle Vassallo gave a cracking performance as a loud, brash and rather ill-mannered, but well-meaning Air Malta employee in Air Malta Impressions, reprising a character role from the past two editions of Four Play – who constantly changes jobs from one to another, with one inept result after the other. Voice-overs by Donald Arthur and an uncannily good impression by Angie Marrow (not her real name, sic) of Halloween Montesin, a local TV presenter doing her Eurovision Song Contest voice-overs in the concluding sketch for the first act – A Folking Good Medley as well as One Life in the second act as well as a life-line phone call for the first act sketch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”; the show was complete. I did feel, however, that there was far too much focus on taking the mickey out of the Eurovision entries as well as other folksongs, and while funny, it felt a touch overdone. The same could be said for the adaptations from Steve Martin and Victoria Wood’s comedy sketches – The Great Firillu and Fattitude which somehow fell a bit short of selling the right stuff.

On the whole, I found the original material to be much more entertaining and effective. Ode to Facebook was interpreted as a duet between Isabel Warrington and Louiselle Vassallo respectively as mother and daughter who grapple with each other’s online personae – culminating in Ms Warrington’s slutty mother fraping her square daughter’s Facebook wall. Both actresses did a good job in this sketch – showing their vocal ability well, however this was even better exposed in a short clip where two maids had a Without You (Can’t Live) sing off – a spoof of the YouTube video meme, Ken Lee. These short video clips were space fillers between scene changes and acted as stand-alone mini sketches which were genuinely entertaining in their own right. Mr Montanaro’s Conversations with Converts poked fun at the ridiculous idea of gay conversion and the fad that is sweeping the island at the moment, making direct jibes at the leader of this group and one or two local personalities too. It was quite a witty social commentary and sent up the whole sham rather well – I particularly like Ms Warrington’s interpretation as a butch lesbian, as well as Mr Montanaro’s interpretation of big-eared Virus. What the audience loved most in the first act however was the sketch Arriva L-Bass Driver – a choice I agree upon wholeheartedly. Alan Paris’ fantastically accurate take on the stereotype of the Maltese bus driver was revamped for our modern times with modern buses and the satire was scathing and genuine. It was a part that Mr Paris interpreted with great gusto and bagged the best laughs to boot.

While Arom-ahhh Kitchen managed to elicit laughter mostly with dead pan expressions and physical comedy, with the inimitable duo of Mr Paris and Mr Montanaro battling it out as exhibitionist TV chefs; Honeymoon in Malta worked as a light-hearted but quite literally in-your-face exposé of an interrupted night of passion. The second act picked up the pace again with the final two sketches –News in Briefs where Ms Warrington, whose gift with mimcry is very evident, shone as the newscaster for Pee Bee Ass – she got the mannerisms and funny accent down to a T. Winding up the show with a much-awaited highlight from the last edition of Four Play was a clever idea. Mr Montanaro’s Defsa was sparkling in her caustic commentary and this performance was enough to have everybody rolling in their seats. It was, however, very biting and dark as send ups go and the sharpness of it all might have risked being too vitriolic if it hadn’t been followed by the fun I Am What I Am final song, which provided the evening with a pleasant ending. With great energy and dynamism and a raw talent for comedy, these four performers have once again created a show that is well worth watching.

• Even More FourPlay is also being staged this weekend.