Anton Marshall On stage in Cape Town
If it’s very difficult talking to comics about serious issues, it’s hell talking to comics about funny issues. Somewhere in Church Street, central Cape Town, there is a unique little coffee lounge that is called – well, The Coffee Lounge. It is unusual in that one floor above it, it hosts a fringe theatre, The Top Floor Theatre. It is even more unusual now, according to Raphael Smith, because it presents the only (as far as we know) weekly stand-up comedy night in Cape Town.
What’s extra special about this comedy night every Tuesday, says Brian Weinronk, who together with Raphael and one Dave Levinson developed this idea, is that the comedy can be performed by anyone, and everyone’s invited to have a go.
The three gentlemen in question were very hard to keep in line during the interview, despite the fact that they assured me they “were not feeling very funny today”. Amid all the cracks and mindless banter, though, they did manage to mention the evenings in question.
The concept of “open microphone” seems very much in keeping with the more oblique side of “fringe” theatre, which shouldn’t really distance itself from the audience with lights and soundstages and special effects. The Coffee Lounge doesn’t claim to have any of these in its 45-capacity somewhat makeshift theatre, which for all its 45 different kinds of seats, benches and armchairs, is intimately charming and very comfortable.
“In London, there are some 85 comedy clubs”, Raphael says,” while here in Cape Town one can hardly think of one.” At the same time, it is claimed that Cape Town has a very vibrant sense of humour, and these all-comer comedy nights are intended mainly to vent the funny sides of local personalities. It allows the funny guy/gal at the braai to try out his/her jokes on an actual paying audience, without the pressure of going out to organise him/herself a professional gig at one of the more established theatres.
The audience doesn’t seem too concerned that the performers, and hence the comedy, isn’t professional. Dave is the host for the evening. “We’ve got people lining the stairs for kak jokes, desperate to laugh. We had Toks van der Linde in here the other night – we had to tell him that wasn’t funny.”
The greater intention of this kind of theatre is to get a new generation of performance- goers into venues. Brian believes that theatre itself is to be blamed for limiting its audience to an older, more “schooled” sector. Raphael agrees, saying that comedy particularly tends to bring a slightly younger, less serious crowd.
All in all, its a rather fun idea which challenges you to get up there and do it yourself. The Top Floor Theatre is not at present running auditions of any kind – as Dave Levinson ominously puts it, “you fly or you die” – but they do require that you book some showtime in advance.
Shows are on Tuesdays at 9.30pm and cost R15 if you’re just coming to watch. Prospective performers can contact Brian Weinronk at The Coffee Lounge, 76 Church Street, Cape Town, by calling (021) 24-6784, or faxing (021) 23- 5546.