INTERVIEW
Face to Face with a Green Mamba
Cape Town Today speaks to John van de Ruit and Ben Voss,
writers and stars of the hilarious comedy the "Green
Mamba"
How did you guys get together the first time?
John:
Ben and his brother, who was in the classics department at
the university in Durban, wanted to put on a show of
Oedipus. They were looking for actors and I was a third
year student at the time and acted with them in that, and
that's where we stuck up the friendship.
Where does the title “Green Mamba” come from?
Ben: That's just a thumbsuck, basically. Because it's sketch
based comedy you have to call it something fairly generic
because each sketch is about something different and we
wanted to call it something colloquial, something South
African. It's more in the mould of creating a brand, like
Monty Pyhton which has no real frame of reference. Now it
sticks in your head and is associated with what we are.
How did Greig Coetzee come into the picture as director?
John: Ben and I were cast in one of his plays and we struck up
quite a strong friendship. Then Ben did his one man show
"Men's Night"
Ben: I asked Greig to direct that, so we have another link
there.
John:
We bugger around like young fourteen year olds. We tease
each other and have quite an infantile relationship
running around trying to kick each other in the arse.
Greig's got a great focus for the moment. One of his
strengths is to see something and say, "If you just do
this it will be funny" And he did that so much with Green
Mamba.
What are your favourite parts in the show?
Ben: What I enjoy doing and what are the best sketches are two
different things. I enjoyed doing the minister in the
Reserve Bank robbery and the car guard.
John: Mine always changes, I would agree with Ben, I enjoy the
horse race, but here in Cape Town the one I enjoyed the
most was the chicken. I also enjoy the human taxidermy
sketch. I find that very sick and creepy and it really
appeals to my black sense of humour.
You’ve mentioned the chicken slaughtering incident and
covered it in the one sketch. How do you feel about it?
Ben: I think it’s not necessary. I’m not saying it was done for
shock tactic, but I believe that if you are going to do it
you should do it on a regular basis and give the audience
the privilege or lack of privilege to be involved in that
every night.
John: They had a chicken they toured around with called Veronica
and they didn’t want to slaughter it. They went and got
another chicken, so the point is why do we have to watch a
chicken being slaughtered when they themselves are feeling
pity for their own chicken. It’s a grey area… can’t we
just make a joke about it and move on?
Are you still adding or modifying the show?
John: We try to keep the script up to date – chop a line here
and put a line in here.
Which parts do the audiences enjoy the most?
Ben: You get different audiences. You get an audience that is
often just a rowdy bunch and they love slapstick – they
love the car guard and the minster and big brother. But
then all the intellectual stuff goes a little over their
head. The ideal audience for us is the one who appreciate
the things like the horse race, the Bin Laden blues. Those
audiences are just awesome. You feel more respected. You
get the laugh as well as the respect. I’d say about 50% of
our audiences are like that.
Have people been offended?
Ben: Not too badly, but ja, there have been some. We had a
review in Joburg calling us “risky, entertaining,
offensive theatre”. Then there was also a guy in Durban
who said we were racist and bigots, which was horrible.
But we also know he’s a bit of an arsehole, so it doesn’t
bother us too much.
I get a little bothered, not so much by people that are
offended, but because I know I’m not racist or trying to
be offensive, and that the piece is slightly unbalanced in
places. And that’s just my fault. John doesn’t feel that
as much. Like Bin Laden Blues – I feel it needs a second
angle that takes the piss out of Bush as well.
John: A lot of people have said we’re like a breath of fresh air
because we are not scared to say things. We aren’t.
There’s always the odd person who comes thinking they’re
going to have a funny night and then find it too political
or too abrasive. But I think that’s our strength. To
actually go from the guts.
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