Review: Devilishly Wicked Satire on the Drill Hall Stage in FATHER, FATHER, FATHER at #NAF16

The winner of a Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award last year, Robaby's FATHER, FATHER, FATHER is back on the National Lottery Fringe at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. A devilishly wicked satire, this physical theatre piece was created by cast members Roberto Pombo, Joni Barnard and Rachael Neary under the direction of Toni Morkel. While the production is hilarious, FATHER, FATHER, FATHER - as any true satire does - points the audience towards moments of recognition where an awareness of the disjunction between the frequent waves of laughter issuing forth from the house and the content of the play is felt.

FATHER, FATHER, FATHER begins with Sonia (Pombo), Marcy (Neary) and Lucy (Barnard) bidding farewell to their father, an increasingly absent figure in their lives. Locked in the basement while he is away with strict instructions never to attempt an escape into the evil world outside, the three sisters spend their days following a set of rules that govern their behaviour. To pass the time, they read, create videos of themselves dancing, and dream of the big, black horse that their father has promised to bring them upon his return. Occasionally, their father makes a video appearance to speak to the sisters in turn. But what appears innocuous and absurd at first soon feels uneasy, and the play introduces a series of twists that lead to a rib-ticklingly funny and shocking climax.

Audiences familiar with Anton Chekhov's THE THREE SISTERS might recognise some echoes of that classic text in FATHER, FATHER, FATHER. Chekhov's play begins as the sisters mourn their father's death a year after the event; his absence is felt as keenly as Sonia, Marcy and Lucy feel the absence of their father. Lucy's naive desire to leave the basement recalls Irina's youthful expectations and dreams of going to Moscow. Lucy shares Masha's sense of disillusionment. Sonia's character follows something of the same trajectory that Olga does in her promotion from teacher to headmistress.

The extent to which one tunes into intertextual references such as these - there are also frequent allusions to BLACK BEAUTY by Anna Sewell, who herself was confined to her house while she wrote the book due to her health - perhaps only matters in being able to acknowledge the intrinsic post-modernity of FATHER, FATHER, FATHER. The play positions its narrative as an allegory that deconstructs the grand religious narrative, commenting on the problems of unquestioned faith and indoctrination, with Father representing an absent deity that demands subservience in return for salvation.

FATHER, FATHER, FATHER also tackles head on the patriarchy that is fundamentally linked to religion. Although the household is ostensibly inhabited only by women - the Father's nuns, perhaps - the delicious juxtaposition of Sonia's costume with Pombo's moustache and the outline of his penis in his skirt reveals the situation as one still controlled by men.

Exposing the fissure between Pombo and his role also hints at a delightfully subversive meta-theatricality that is woven through the piece. While the piece takes the form of physical theatre, it is simultaneously a pastiche of the genre, commenting on conventions typically associated with a style of physical theatre that marries itself to the spoken word.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Pombo, Neary and Barnard work seamlessly as an ensemble, each handling the comedy of FATHER, FATHER, FATHER in individual ways. Under Morkel's well-modulated direction, their play with subtle elements of rhythm in the production makes the piece entirely engrossing.

FATHER, FATHER, FATHER is a cut above what usually passes for satire in contemporary South Africa. Figures like Pieter-Dirk Uys and many local stand-up comedians have downgraded their social satire into edgy comedy that nibbles when it should bite, but FATHER, FATHER, FATHER devours its audience. We laugh even when its teeth cut a little close to the bone.

FATHER, FATHER, FATHER opened at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown on 30 June. There is are two remaining performances on 8 July at 20:00 and 9 July at 16:00. Bookings are through the National Arts Festival website.

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