Theatresports offers unique kosher shtick
ANYTHING is possible when Kosher Theatresports, Sydney's long-running Jewish comedy improvisational game show, return for a new season.
CHANTAL ABITBOL
START with a Shabbat dinner skit performed in the style of a Shakespearean play. Quickly cut to a scene depicting a spoof operatic bat mitzvah. Then switch gears again to hear a love-song send-up between a liberal and a Chassid.
Anything is possible when it comes to Kosher Theatresports (KTS), Sydney’s long-running Jewish comedy improvisational game show that is set to return to Bondi Pavilion Theatre on Sunday, December 6.
Under such irreverent monikers as “Shmux in Tux” and “Red Hot Chilli Shleppers”, teams of comic actors compete, creating impromptu poems, songs, plays and stories — all inspired by audience suggestions and flaunting their own unique brand of shtick.
But it’s not about winning, says returning champion and comedy writer for Good News Week Dave Bloustien.
“It’s just a chance for a bunch of us to muck around and make people laugh,” he says. “You’re seeing ordinary people from your community get up and try something very different and new. There are always references to in-jokes and the global Jewish community as a whole. It’s something quite special.”
Presented by Comic Roasts, KTS came out of the tradition of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students revues and has featured big-name performers and judges, such as columnist Mia Freedman, radio host Bianca Dye, comedian Libbi Gorr, model Tara Moss and the late entertainer Don Lane.
This year, co-hosts Monique Dykstra and KTS founder Geoff Sirmai will lead the proceedings, which will see six teams first facing off against each other in one and two-minute rounds, before heading into three-minute elimination rounds.
After a brief interval, the final two teams will compete in a comedy standoff for the famous Kiddush Cup.
“The great thing about improv is that not every scene works. But ¬≠people only remember the good ones,” says Bloustien. “If everything goes downhill, you’ll get another chance to redeem yourself down the track two minutes later.”
There’s an element of danger to it, he adds, and that’s the allure for audiences. “It’s made up on-the-spot. You never know what’s going to happen, and you can keep going back again and again, and see a different show every time. You won’t see the same show twice.”
Sirmai, who also serves as the show’s director, says he expects a high turnout at the event. “Theatresports is everyone’s favourite comedy game show. Audiences will sing and scream their lungs out in a feel-good celebration of fast wits and lots of shvitz.”
Kosher Theatresports will be held at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre on Sunday, December 6 at 8pm. Bookings: 1300 306 776 or online at www.mca-tix.com.au.
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