Cast: Graham Hopkins, James Borthwick
Venue: Studio Theatre, Montecasino
Rating: ***
Twenty years after their first meeting under the oaks of the Newlands cricket ground, die-hard cricket fanatics Richard Hopcroft and Corky Labuschagne are up to their old antics again - and judging by the reaction of the audience on the opening night, they're still as fresh and funny as ever.
Life's a Pitch is Paul Slabolepszy's third Corky Labuschagne play, following Under the Oaks and Tickle to Fine Leg, and it's clear that he still has the recipe for South African humour down pat: characters you can identify with, a sprinkling of off-colour humour and a goodly dash of sporting analogies.
On the face of it, Life's A Pitch is about the arcane world of the cricket umpire, a strange breed at the best of times. But it's about far more than cricket. In fact, it's about far more than sport. What makes Slabo- lepszy's work so successful is that it speaks directly to the average South African, with all of their silly little prejudices and sports-crazed quirks.
The setting is an umpire's dressing room - sorry, umpire's lodge - at a nameless cricket ground, where the terminally pedantic Hopcroft (Hopkins) is getting ready to officiate at a match. His Mr Bean-like pre-match reverie is rudely interrupted by the rough and ready Corky (Borthwick), who looks all the world like a lost spectator, but turns out to be his fellow umpire for the day.
And so begins a highly entertaining interplay between the stiff-upper-lipped Richard and the rude, crude Corky, who appear to have absolutely nothing in common. Richard drinks tea and litters his conversation with Latin and French phrases. The WP-hatted Corky likes two beers and a sandwich before getting out into the midday sun, and wouldn't know a raison d'etre from a raisin bun.
"You're an umpire?" Richard asks disbelievingly. "I can hold up a finger," retorts the irrepressible Corky, who is garrulous to the point of irritation.
As funny as the dialogue is, though, some of the biggest laughs come from Borthwick's facial expressions alone. Just a few quizzical looks at his tormented colleague are enough to reduce the most stoic audience member to fits of giggles.
Some of the lines may be a little tired - like the one about the one-armed fisherman, for example - but the comic timing displayed by both Hopkins and Borthwick more than makes up for any minor imperfections. This is a multi award-winning work, and it shows.
Eventually, after a series of increasingly amusing tribulations, the pair find common ground: an almost fanatical love of their sport and their fellow man. The message is simplistic, but effective - and it's first-rate entertainment to boot.