With a cast and crew of trained, accredited and experienced professionals, Natives Strikin’ Blak, at first, evoked expectations of a highly polished and provocative night’s entertainment. But as each comedian took to the stage, it became apparent that, as entertaining as it was, the show was neither polished nor provocative. Unfortunately it ran more like a dress rehearsal. And seeing as though there was both a director and an assistant director working on the production, I found it on the whole to miss out on its potential.

There was a lot of good material, some funny anecdotes, grounded characters and a strong basis for masterful and desperately needed political comment. But all this would have worked better with more rehearsal, rewriting and some slight restructuring. The performers themselves seemed to be at home and talented within their individual characters but were noticeably insecure in their acts. It’s a hard task to find yourself alone in front of an audience, and things are a lot different when you’re on the other side of the stage, but the crucial part of any stand-up act is to make it look easy. Show no fear and let your character take command. It doesn’t really matter what it is you’re portraying on stage’if you don’t believe it yourself, then the audience won’t either.

There was a lot of missed opportunity, but the Ilbijerri Theatre Co-operative gave a promising performance that was worth watching.

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