BESWITCHED
DIRECTORS: Dhaveshan Govender, Shika Budhoo, |Sandy Bigara, Francis Bigara
CAST: Shika Budhoo |and Sandy Bigara
VENUE: Catalina Theatre
UNTIL: Sunday
RATING: ***
RESPECTED Durban entertainers Shika Budhoo and Sandy Bigara have combined their talents to bring a new offering to stage in the form of Beswitched.
The production is a comedy about two women unexpectedly rediscovering their friendship.
Best friends, Leela (Indian) and Pamela (white) find the future of their friendship tested when Leela and Pamela’s brother decide to marry.
The morning after a disastrous engagement party, the two share a cup of tea, not knowing that Granny Vashti’s “special tea” will see the friends swopping bodies.
The problem is the wedding is the next day.
The switch forces the duo to revisit their past to hopefully bring them to a place where they can find “true sisterhood to complete the circle (of love)”.
Budhoo and Bigara have ensured the play is jam-packed with a laugh-a-minute script. But it’s not to be mistaken for a purely slapstick offering as it is in reading between the lines that you will find the real jewels of this piece.
As the friends embark on this joint journey of self-discovery, they find that issues of differences in race and culture that have crept into their friendship – and exist between the two soon-to-be-joined families – are actually non-issues.
In revisiting their past they discover a host of similarities in the growing up years; from pushy mothers to first-time crushes and more. And they discover some intimate details of their past that were unknown to each other.
While this recollection unfolds, the audience is drawn into the nostalgia of it all with flashbacks to growing up in Durban in the 80s.
But can the two get over their differences entirely, let alone before the wedding?
Budhoo and Bigara present equally funny performances, while not loosing the dramatic moments that are interlaced into the script.
Working with a minimalistic set, the team have maximised the space and the props, thereby adding much detail to their stories.
The audience attending the opening night seemed very entertained and related well to the commonalities on the trip down the ’80s memory lane.
• Tickets are R60 and can be booked at 031 305 6889.