DURBAN comedian, Aaron McIlroy, brings his latest stage escapade, The Ranga, to The Barnyard Theatre at Gateway on Monday, August 3.

The Ranga takes a tongue-in-cheek look at prejudice as seen through the eyes of a man tormented with pigmentation issues. The word ‘Ranga’ is derived from ‘Orangutang’ (red-haired monkeys) and is a term used to describe people with varying shades of red hair, from strawberry blonde to auburn.

In The Ranga, McIlroy takes the scalpel to the pre-conceived ideas around ‘ranga-ism’ – highlighting how this recessive gene is the primary cause of most the world’s woes!  Inspired by the Australian sitcom, Summer Heights High, and the YouTube sensation Rage Of The Redhead, McIlroy descends into the gritty underbelly of ginger prejudice with hilarious results.

“For many years, we tried to blend in with other people and pretend we weren’t rangas,” quips McIlroy. “We even tried to disguise ourselves with the use of hair dye and sunscreen, and by taking the mac out of our names. This made rangas harder and harder to identify.

“As time went by, with the Ranga Rights Movement getting underway, we began celebrating our connectedness with rest of Homo Sapiens. We even began leaving our Red Rover Reserve and Coming Out. We put forward a list of demands to Government. These included recognition that Rangas have souls… That you may not own a Ranga… That a Ranga is not just for Christmas…

“We began lobbying for better work opportunities for Rangas beyond the reserve. Rangas have always been side-lined in the work place (right back to the days of Angus the great, the famous Glaswegian sewer diver of the 1800’s who specialised in jewel retrieval and fungal development). My own jobs included menial responsibilities like arm pit sniffing, pet food tasting, even whale snot gathering, which I must say I enjoyed once I learned to swim.”

Get the picture? Vintage McIlroy material flows forth copiously in The Ranga in which Durban’s multi-award-winning comic appears alongside well-known muso, Andy Turrell. Hit songs in the show include covers of Duelling Banjos (Deliverance), Hey Brother (Avicii), Money’s Too Tight To Mention (Simply Red) and Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera).

The theatre will open at 6.30 pm, and the show will start at 8 pm. Tickets are R130 at 031 566 3045.

Aaron McIlroy in The Ranga