Yes indeed, readers. If not for the acting chops of Dominic Kellar, Gehan Blok and Pasan Ranaweera in their three stooges-esque performance at Star of Wonder last week, the Punchi Theatre would have seen an exodus of far more biblical proportions than the biblical journey of the Magi depicted in the play.
The script-writer is one lucky guy, I tell you. How and where else would a script which we would normally expect to see from an adoloscent- and a young one at that- give us a fairly entertaining night? See paragraph above.
The three leads- Balthazaar, Melchoir and Gaspar (as mentioned in biblical tradition) were ideally placed. While the rest of the cast bravely- I repeat, bravely- plodded on with amateurish, wooden and unconvincing performances, the three kings were in a class of their own. Not that this was their best performance. Dominic Kellar's role in the Astounding Krispinsky(?), Gehan Blok's role as Reverend Tim and Pasan Ranaweera's role as the bumbling nitarmasuffering(?) would have undoubtedly posed more challenge. The difference with star of wonder though, was that the actors had what was- with the exception of a few instances of almost clever wit-a rather pathetic, and lazily written script. Considering the end result where a poker face like moi erupted in giggles at the well timed expressions, reactions and antics of the three, I'd say that was an absolutely superb job.
Unfortunately, some clever soul decided that maybe- just maybe- it would be a good idea to turn the whole thing into some sort of musical without a musical score. Such brilliance.
I was being sarcastic.
No offence to the 'aww' inspiring little sopranos who no doubt did their best. But why for the love of God did whoever it was feel it necessary to bring in a rather genre confused musical trio between acts? Sadly, the singer had a good voice, but it was wasted.
And there we have it. Not too much to analyze. Safe to say that if Balthazaar, Melchoir and Gaspar did in fact encounter Mary Magdalene and Barabbas on their way to Jerusalem, Christ would have in thirty something years time, have encountered a Mary Magdalene who had parkinsons disease and Barabbas would have had arthritis. Oh, and the biblical world would have been trigger-happy. And battling VAT and Customs duties. Puh-lease.