Joe of all trades

23 Apr 2014

Cape Town comedians David Isaacs and Oscar Petersen are back with the latest instalment of Joe Barber. The show, named after Isaacs's actual barbershop of the same name, began back in 1999 and is still going strong after 15 years.

Directed by Heinrich Reisenhofer, the current incarnation is presented as a mockumentary, with the two actors playing a number of characters vying for a community award. And while the pre-recorded material is cleverly integrated into the show, it felt like too much of the performance required the audience to sit back and watch the antics on a giant screen.

Still, even though it might have been better if we could have simply enjoyed the live performers on stage, the crowd couldn't stop laughing. (A man beside me was so beside himself that his laughter physically shook a large part of our row.) It doesn't matter if you haven't seen previous editions of the show (or might not be fully conversant in Kaapse Afrikaans); there's enough appeal to make it worth a seat in Joe Barber's chair.

Joe Barber VI (PG-13) is at Cape Town's Baxter Theatre until 10 May. Book at Computicket.

Eugene Yiga

About Eugene Yiga

Eugene graduated from the University of Cape Town with distinctions in financial accounting and classical piano. He then spent over two-and-half years working in branding and communications at two of South Africa's top market research companies. Eugene also spent over three-and-a-half years at an eLearning start-up, all while building his business as an award-winning writer. Visit www.eugeneyiga.com, follow @eugeneyiga on Twitter, or email moc.agiyenegue@olleh to say, um, hello.