Aaron McIlroy

Stand by for a fresh new laugh-a-line theatre experience from South Africa’s ‘Master of Mirth, Aaron McIlroy! Following a highly successful premiere run at University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban earlier this year, and triumphing on the 2016 National Arts Festival Fringe, Comedy Masterclass is the set to take the Hexagon Theatre on UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg by storm.

Join McIlroy as he delves into the science that underpins the world’s oldest coping mechanism, a Sense of Humour. Co-written by McIlroy and Patrick Kenny, and directed by Kenny, Comedy Masterclass is a surreal, comedic roller-coaster ride into the world of laughter, where the rules are subjective and what one person finds funny another may cringe at!

“Something is funny because it captures a moment, it contains an element of truth as seen from a new angle, it is something that we have always known and yet are hearing it out loud for the first time. I think that our need to feel intelligent comes into play a lot in finding things funny…,” says McIlroy.

“Maybe humour is actually the overwhelming joy at feeling intelligent. Say somebody tries to put on their shoes standing up and falls over. They look like a complete idiot, we feel intelligent because we are not the one falling over.. So, we laugh – maybe out of relief that it’s not us – this time!

“Another person makes a clever comment and only a few people get it. If we get the joke we recognise the person as being clever and feel clever ourselves because we understood the concept so, we laugh, again.”

So is humour partly to do with self-congratulation at being intelligent? “Probably a huge part of it!  In any event, as ‘Laughter is the best medicine’, come and enjoy your dose. Because, let’s face it, there has never been a time when we needed it more,” says McIlroy.

The show – the latest offering from the artist who brought you Abbamaniacs, The Loser, and most recently The Ranga – plays in Pietermaritzburg for three performances only, on Friday, August 12 at 7.30 pm and on Saturday, August 13 at 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm.

Tickets are R130 per person (R100 for pensioners, students and scholars). Booking is through http://www.webtickets.co.za.

Be sure to join McIlroy at Comedy Masterclass at The Hex in Pmb!