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Laugh a minute "My Big Fat Cowpat Wedding" from Kali Theatre brings Brummie Arjen and Farmer's daughter Claire's nuptials

For this in the round show we arrive at the Hall and are invited to join the Bride or Groom's side - we are guests at the wedding.  In this show all those nail biting social dilemmas of meeting the in-laws for the first time, deplorable behaviour by the teenagers, the drunken best man and the adults are racheted up with the traditional tropes of Aesop's tale  "the Town and the Country Mouse" and just to add to the pot this is a cross cultural wedding - Asian sophistication meets down to earth farming life 21st century style.   Wolverhampton born Arjen and his newly wed wife Claire from deepest Herefordshire are setting out on their journey with the first dance.    The upstairs Gallery at the Poly is laid out for a village hall wedding breakfast......bunting, wedding cake, and a cheery upbeat disco soundtrack lay the foundation for an evening of a light hearted humour at the expense of our prejudices and insecurities.

Lampooning the ways of urban sophisticates and country bumpkins is the stuff of comedy since the Greek  Aristophanes and  the Romans Terence and Plautus.  But a great deal of research and care has gone into navigating those stereotypes in Sayan Kent's play  addressing more contemporary concerns  to provide a humourous and sometimes touching dig  into social niceties.   This show is sometimes obvious but also sometimes insightful and its big on cross community bonding and celebration.......emphasising the things we share rather than the things we do not... in that respect it is-an enormous palliative to the divisive rhetoric of the European Referendum debate and the American election of the last few weeks.   And I and the audience laughed a lot and even joined the other "guests" on the dance floor for the traditional self-conscious disco boogie after the applause.

This show which has now been touring for over a year now and is on its second casting was commissioned by Black Country Touring (the Midlands network which straddles industrial and urban communities as well as rural ones and ArtsAlive the neighbouring Herefordshire's rural touring scheme is well presented with a well  designed  graphics and excellent printed programme , an evening of fun with a cast whose accents and foibles give us an authentic comic experience.

Further performances in Cornwall tonight11th  at Gwinear village Hall, tommorrow Saturday 12th November Stithians Village Hall and Sunday in Perranporth Memorial Hall.  TIckets from www.carntocove.co.uk or 01726 879500

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