Memorable Combination

Paul Ubana Jones and Scared Scriptless Mountainview Auditorium

_{The Timaru Herald  September 1993 Steve Attwood}

To move from the almost ethereal experience of Paul Ubana Jones' soulful blues to the gut busting comedy of Scared Scriptless was an oscillation between the sublime and the ridiculous, but it worked.

The combination of these two different performance mediums created an entertainment package that was extraordinary.

Jones' great ability is to create an atmosphere wholly from the quality of his sound.  There are no gimmicks, nothing flashy, yet his music tells stories that can be felt as well as heard.

Jones last night was not the raging guitar player we sometimes hear with finger-blurring guitar gymnastics.  Instead we saw a deeper, bluer, softer presentation that underscores his reputation as a top blues player.  Nevertheless the guitar magic was there in all the rich breadth this player has built a reputation for.

Scared Scriptless proved itself a top flight Comedy Theatresports team. This was not quite competitive Theatresports but an adapted-for-general-consumption version.

Cal Wilson, Patrick Duffy and John Hudson quite literally, at times, had the audience collapsing with laughter.  This was genuine chest-hugging, rib-aching stuff as they turned the everyday into effervescence, the dull into delightful.  It is difficult to pick highlights out of a high class evening but the "Meehan" skit, the "shrivelled flax" conversation and a "date at the Old Mill" with audience participation, are sure to promote chuckles in the audiences minds in the weeks to come.

The only black spot of the night was the audience size.  High calibre players like Jones performing outside a pub venue should be an opportunity to be seized upon, and the Timaru Community Arts Council did it's best to attract the young by keeping prices low.  And, while Timaru has seen a good lot of Theatresports in recent months, a team the calibre of Scared Scriptless is worth an extra effort.

The essential point is that one has to be neither a blues fan or a theatre buff to enjoy this combined performance.  For people familiar with neither genre it would still be a highly entertaining night out.  The Southern Regional Arts Council take the comedy and blues tour to Twizel today, Temuka tomorrow and Geraldine, Fairlie and Waimate over the rest of the week.  Timaru folk who stayed away last night would do well to think again and make the trip to see these performers before they move out of the area.