THE FULL MORTY
PERFORMER: Mortimer Williams
DIRECTOR: Kristy Suttner
VENUE: The Fringe at the Joburg Theatre
UNTIL: August 23
RATING: ***
Mortimer Williams has all the talent and chutzpah needed for a solo show and by all accounts it worked well at the National Arts Festival. But for the Fringe it needs more focus and perhaps hype.
The crux of the conversation, because that’s how he likes to apply the performance, is South African men, which makes it too broad and then misses a target audience.
While not being part of this particular group, it was easy to see that when he hits the market, his young audience responds to stories that are familiar and fall in their experience. He is talking as a young father and husband and what this species needs to operate best.
Every performer has to find a niche, an area of expertise where they are in command of the conversation, but then they also have to keep in mind that without a particular group in mind, they will lose those who will best respond to what they are trying to do.
He’s funny and at his best when he reaches into his past as a teenager first making advances to the opposite sex – from the music (which had the younger audience screeching with delight), to the moves, the dress code and the language, he had it down pat. The more personal the talk, the better it was received.
At times, it would become too general and you could see people losing interest because they couldn’t relate.
This particular age group isn’t often considered and when you think of all the life changes once children become part of the equation, the possibilities are endless. Go there, keep it specific and address that age group in particular.
Williams has an amazing voice, but also this wasn’t quite optimised. Backtracks are never the best option, although it is usually because of financial implications. But then you have to find a way to make it work. Because of the comic routine, he sometimes injected this silliness into the music which works, but then it wasn’t always clear when a song was presented as deadly serious in the moment.
Like a previous show that Williams and Suttner attempted, Mix Tape, there’s huge potential. But they need a more intimate venue and, for the moment, it’s still a show that would perform better at a festival than on the regular circuit.