McIlroy goes bananas about world’s woes
Catch comedian, Aaron McIlroy’s, new musical comedy, The Ranga, at the Playhouse this festive season.
CELEBRATING 20 years of South Africa’s Democracy, Aaron McIlroy’s latest stage escapade, The Ranga, marks his return, after two decades, to the Playhouse stage, where his professional career began as a member of the Loft Theatre Company in the early 1990s.
Presented by MacBob Productions in association with The Playhouse Company, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture, The Ranga is a new one-man comedy written and performed by madcap McIlroy.
Originally directed by Steven Stead for the 2014 Hilton Arts Festival, this musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at prejudice as seen through the eyes of a man tormented with pigmentation issues.
The word ‘Ranga’ is derived from ‘Orangutang’ (red haired monkeys) and is a term used to describe people with varying shades of red hair, from strawberry blond to auburn.
In The Ranga, McIlroy, in his inimitably whacky style, takes the scalpel to the preconceived ideas around ‘ranga-ism’ – highlighting how this recessive gene is the primary cause of most of the world’s woes. Inspired by the Australian sitcom, Summer Heights High, and the Youtube sensation Rage of the Redhead, McIlroy descends into the gritty underbelly of ginger prejudice with hilarious results.
Vintage McIlroy material flows forth copiously in The Ranga in which Durban’s multi-award-winning comic appears alongside well-known Durban muso, Andy Turrell, on musical accompaniment. Hit songs to be heard in the show include, among others, covers of Duelling Banjos (Deliverance), Hey Brother (Avicii), Money’s Too Tight To Mention (Simply Red) and Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera).
The Ranga runs in the Playhouse Drama from 3 to 14 December, with performances on Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm and 3pm matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. The duration of the show is 95 minutes including a 20-minute interval.
Tickets at R150 each and are available from Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com. Bookings can also be made via the Playhouse Box Office on 031 369 9540.
