★★★☆☆

Review by John Gibson. Venue 14. Gilded Balloon Teviot – Balcony @19:40

Schalk (Pronounced Skul) is Afrikaans and explains that he is from Kempton Park, which, from his mostly childhood recollections, seems to have been a pleasant childhood in the years following Apartheid. In past shows he has challenged UK audiences on their knowledge of this horrendous time in South Africa, but tonight he just sticks to the childhood reminiscences.

With an absence of socio-political critique he continues in this vein with his version of meeting the posh kids of Kempton Park, and being surprised at their chilling demeanour and slavish adherence to rules, at a…[wait for it] chess tournament. The dichotomy between these (apparently English) children and Schalk (and the broader implications about Britain’s role in his country’s greatest injustice) is also left untouched.

There are more stories of self-depreciation and awkward memories of high school, delivered with a Live At The Apollo bombast and Schalk’s undeniably efficient and professional stagecraft. When reflecting on being called names for being less masculine and alpha than the other six year olds, he wants to use the F-word but demurs as he states ‘that’s one of your banned words’. He further explains that he thinks ‘cancel culture is fine’ because ‘things have moved on and we just need to adapt with it’.

Placing that rather glib endorsement for state censorship aside, it is obvious that this sort of ideology is what he is searching for in the room. He asks who’s the youngest and is disappointed and surprised to find only a few 18-25 year olds. When he finds a suitable South African émigré now working in a bank, he opines, ‘In South Africa you would be a member of the elite!’. Again this hints at the more robust and challenging material lurking under Bezuidenhout’s contemporary sheen.

With a healthy acting career at home and a regular stint on a mockumentary series this material feels moulded to appeal to the millennial demographic; an audience that profess to not enjoying ‘jokey-jokes’ but instead seem to prefer character skits and situation comedy, all of which Bezuidenhout fits this requirement perfectly.

If there were fewer childhood anecdotes (that rely on the nomenclature of Afrikaans) and a little more exploration of his identity in relation to the UK, Schalk could develop into something quite unique. As it stands, he has already proved himself in his home nation, so you get the impression that he probably feels that he just needs different audiences, not necessarily different material.