Bumper comedy line-up at Baxter for festive season
Ring in 2023 at the Baxter and join the New Year’s Eve party. Patrons who book for any of the three shows on the night will automatically have free entry to the party. This year, tickets are also available for the party only, with a live DJ, from 10.30pm on Saturday December 31.
Some of the stars from the respective productions - Marc Lottering’s Aunty Merle - Things Get Real; Christo Davids’ Platform 9: Coming Home; and Alfred Adriaan’s Unfit & Forty, will do the countdown and lead audiences into the new year.
Lottering’s latest instalment of Aunty Merle - Things Get Real, continues to play to packed houses, following the sell-out success of the two previous productions in the musical comedy series.
It’s been two long years and Merle Abrahams from Belgravia Road has since survived Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions and is just about finding her way through the darkness of load shedding. This time around, however, things are about to get very real as Dennis, her loving husband, has been found to be keeping a secret from her - one which has affected his heart and is about to turn Merle’s world upside down.
Performances are at 7.30pm, except on Saturday December 31, when it will start at 8pm, with 3pm Saturday matinees and the show runs until Saturday January 21. There is an age restriction of 13 years.
South African television stars Theodore Jantjies and Maurice Paige can be seen live at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio in Platform 9: Coming Home until Saturday January 7.
They are back at the Baxter with their comedy two-man show, directed by Christo Davids, where it had its first run, nine years ago. Performances are at 7pm nightly, with Saturday matinees at 2.30pm and 9pm on Saturday December 31.
Performed in Afrikaans and some English, Platform 9: Coming Home is a collaboration between the three childhood friends, Jantjies, Paige and Davids who coincidentally all first gained popularity as local soapie stars.
The show includes some familiar characters, mixed with a bunch of new ones, all making their way to the Utopia of SA. There is a love story that goes wrong when some pills get mixed up; an evangelical priest with a dark secret; and a blind man that has missed his stop. All this hysterical chaos must be managed by Theo and Mau as their friendship is once again put to the test. There is an age restriction of 13 years.
Following his sold-out run earlier in 2022, stand-up comedian Alfred Adriaan is back at the Baxter Concert Hall with Unfit & Forty for a limited festive season run, until Saturday December 31.
In his latest comedy, he laments the trials and tribulations of a middle-aged, married man, as he looks at his own aging, married life, and his fear of being cancelled due to old age.
With a decade of jokes under his belt, Adriaan’s popularity increased rapidly during lockdown when his relatable, family man-style comedic video clips and vlogs, in which his wife Natalie is frequently annoyed with him, went viral on social media. However, he gained success long before lockdown. He is an eight-time South African Comics choice award nominee and has travelled the world doing stand-up comedy to sold out audiences in London, Sydney, Perth and New York.
Performances are at 8pm nightly, except on Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24 (for the family show) at 4pm, and at 9pm on New Year’s Eve. There is an Afrikaans version of the show on Tuesday December 27, at 8pm. There is an age restriction of 13 years, except on Christmas Eve, when a special show has been included for the whole family.
Bookings for Aunty Merle - Things Get Real, Platform 9: Coming Home; Unfit & Forty; and the New Year’s Eve party are through Webtickets or at Pick n Pay stores.