THEY were newfound varsity mates, one from Durban and the other from Boksburg, whose only point of commonality was that, at the time of meeting, they were officially part of the Wits University fraternity.
As they exchanged stories of growing up in their respective areas, Geraldine Naidoo and Matthew Ribnick became more aware of the vast cultural differences of their upbringing and an idea was sparked to for a theatrical offering that would look at this. Thus, The Chilli Boy was born.
“I wrote The Chilli Boy in 2002. It was post-apartheid. We wanted something fresh, something new that would reflect on contemporary South Africa and at the time, we felt that theatre in the country needed to move forward, not just slapstick comedy; we wanted a show of theatrical integrity,” Naidoo explained.
The Chilli Boy is the hilarious one-hander performed by Ribnick about an old Indian woman who is reincarnated as a white gangster from Boksburg and how the 30-year-old evolves into a maternal sari-wearing “aunty” who cooks up a storm – a complete opposite to his usual thug self.
Ribnick said at the time Naidoo wrote the play she lived next door to an old Indian woman and he’d also known a few Indian women, so he drew references from them for his character. With regard to his Boksburg gangster character, Ribnick said he was influenced by an amalgamation of people he’d met growing up there. He even took Hindi classes at the Indian consulate to strengthen his Indian character.
“Our view is that when you go to a restaurant and you get a mediocre meal, you don’t feel you’ve got your money’s worth out of it. It is the same for theatre. We decided to give people their money’s worth,” he explained.
The efforts certainly have paid off with The Chilli Boy, which premiered nine years ago at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and has since performed to sold-out audiences in Joburg, Cape Town and Durban, as well in London’s West End.
Naidoo and Ribnick will restage The Chilli Boy at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre this week for a two-week run, but Durban is in for a double treat with the duo’s Monkey Nuts to be staged straight after.
Naidoo said their productions all have storylines that centre on people and telling their stories. “In Monkey Nuts we have an oddball character, Edgar Chambers. He is a bank-teller by profession and also has the unusual knack of sniffing out free stuff and special offers. But his main hobby is monitoring the prices of grocery items in various stores. He also has no friends. He then wins a competition for him and three friends to go to Italy. And the story looks at how this odd character goes about trying to make friends in this day and age,” Naidoo explained.
Monkey Nuts has won an acclaimed Naledi Award for Best Comedy Performance, also having played to sold out audiences and been described by some critics as one of the finest and funniest situational comedies on offer.
Naidoo said that at the moment they are not working on any new productions as The Chilli Boy has been travelling for nine years and Hoot has travelled the country, Amsterdam and The Hague, Monkey Nuts was still new and they want it give it a fair run.
Ribnick added that while in South Africa the trend is generally for a show to run for few weeks, overseas shows tour for years. “Also the shows are bit slicker now, than before. There are some scenes that were not in the initial run of The Chilli Boy in 2002, so it is like a good wine, it matures over time,” he said.
lThe Chilli Boy runs at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from April 21 to May 1; with Monkey Nuts running from May 5 to May 15. Shows for both productions run from Thursday to Sunday each week. All shows are at 8pm, but there will be no show of The Chilli Boy on Good Friday. Tickets are R60 on Thursdays and Sundays; R120 on Friday and Saturday’s. All bookings are through Computicket. No under 16s.