Jerry Kai-Lewis
16 April 2008
opinion
Aldo Brincat, theatre practitioner extraordinaire and head of the Maru-a-Pula School, held a one-man show at Maitisong on April 9.
The mid-afternoon affair, designed to raise funds for a core group of 24 of the school's students and six staff members to attend the upcoming National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, attracted a crowd of youngsters, their parents and a few Maru-a-Pula students eager to see what Brincat had to offer. Ordinarily Brincat is tasked with teaching, scripting and directing plays for the Drama Department at Maru-a-Pula School therefore this was one of the rare opportunities that crowds had to witness Brincat in his performance element.
Young children came pouring into Maitisong, many still clad in their school uniforms, ready for the show. After the doors opened, they sat buzzing in their seats, unsure of what was in store. Then, suddenly, Brincat could be heard mimicking the puttering sounds of a motorcycle as he emerged on the stage with a unicycle, a small leather bag filled with props and a pocket full of deflated balloons, which would all serve as key props on the otherwise empty stage. He immediately grabbed the attention of the audience and maintained it for the remainder of the hour-long performance.
The electrifying interactive show got off to an excellent start as Brincat immersed himself in the role of Frank, a travelling comedian, juggler, magician, and unicyclist. First, he mesmerised the massive crowd of children with his deft balloon art skills, blowing them into the shapes of various animals. Brincat continued to entertain the audience with his hilarious facial expressions and the charming accent that he adopted.
But the most awe-inspiring component of the show was the magic tricks. As a minor illusionist, Brincat managed to pull rubber balls, coins, and a handkerchief from his mouth. Additionally, he slyly alternated a thimble from the fingers on one of his hands to the other, surprising the audience. During all of these tricks, the children looked on in disbelief, cooing with "oohs" and "ahhs." From the smallest children to the high school aged teens, his magic tricks left everyone incredulously wondering the secret behind his tricks. In another amusing magic segment of the show, Brincat pulled coins from the ears, mouth, and nose of one of the children in the audience. After turning the small boy over, as if to check whether he was filled with coins, he flipped him over and placed him back on the stage floor. The participant was thrilled to be on stage with Brincat and received one of the most sought-after prizes of the afternoon, a sculptured balloon hat.
Other highlights from the show involved Brincat juggling an apple, lemon and orange. At one point, he stopped to take bites of the apple while still juggling the lemon and orange with his free hand. After eating the entire apple, he concluded his juggling segment and gave away the remaining fruits to audience members, who excitedly received them.
When Brincat jokingly announced that he was going to end the show, there was disappointment among the audience, and the newfound owner of the lemon teasingly hurled it at him on stage. The comedic heckling from the pint-sized audience continued into the final portion of the show where Brincat displayed his unicycle skills. He initially taunted the audience, pretending that he was a fledgling unicyclist and was unable to maintain his balance on the contraption. Brincat enlisted the help of an audience member and proceeded to balance himself on the unicycle with one arm while holding onto the onlooker's shoulder with the other. During this segment he also suspended the unicycle in one of his hands above his head as the pedals spun. Later on, he propped a boy from the audience on his shoulders, seated himself on the unicycle, and proceeded to pedal around the Maitisong stage, emulating an airplane.
For Brincat, who originally taught himself how to ride a unicycle in three weeks, the gravity defying stunt was quite impressive.Overall, Brincat's show was an enjoyable event. Judging by the number of students packed into Maitisong, the fund-raising effort is moving in a positive direction. It is a major achievement for Brincat, the Maru-a-Pula students and the Drama Department.
At the end of the week, Brincat his Form Four students are packing up and journeying to the United States of America (US) to debut a student production. Nonetheless, there is still a significant amount of money needed to meet the financial target for the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. So far only the Chinese Embassy has contributed P5,000 towards the fund-raising effort.
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