So Culture Shock Is Real: In Two Acts

After an amazing week having not a single bad run-in with South Africans, I had been beginning to question the repetitive fuss over culture shock.  In fact, I think if I had been asked to sit through another lecture on the subject I’d have gone off the deep end. Of course, this country has its own unique culture that is not my own, but that’s obvious.  Well, after tonight, I still have had no negative experiences.  I guess the best description for it is confusing.  But I definitely buy the culture shock argument now.

Let’s start with what I do know.  Tonight, I attended a sold out performance of a play called Where the Boys Are.  My group of friends and I spotted this really neat theatre next to campus and wanted to give it a try.  After The Tempest was sold out, we opted for the other show currently playing.

Apparently, the play was a musical comedy with three actors singing enthusiastically about their lives, mainly the romantic misadventures. I say apparently for two reasons.  First, I understood almost none of what was said.  The accents were heavy, but I’m also pretty sure that every punchline was delivered in another language.  It’s possible that the punchline was the switch to another language.

But that brings me to my main point.  The difference in style of comedy was tremendous.  Almost every time the audience erupted in laughter involved slapstick.  Well, and shockingly, fairly obscure references to Dallas and the A-Team. (I only know this because one of my friends alerted me.) I guess a lot of South Africans would beat me at American television trivia.   But the laughs were not sparse.  I don’t think I’ve heard an audience laugh so often and loudly.  And I’ve seen The Producers on Broadway.

The songs also brought surprises.  At a visit to a township for lunch a few days ago (part of our university orientation tour of the peninsula), we heard a song called, “Welcome to Cape Town.” The lyrics were so bland and had the feel of “insert any city here and sing.” (Examples: Put on your dancing shoes, and come to Cape Town…. Cape Town’s number one!)  But just when we thought we couldn’t be confounded any more, the actors broke into this song, and the crowd loved every minute.

The situations emphasized were interesting as well.  For example, two extended scenes essentially amounted to the characters flying on a plane for the first time.  Also, South Africans seem to have a strange penchant for making fun of the Japanese.  In the play tonight, the language was the butt of a few jokes.  And in a Coke commercial, the Japanese are jokingly targeted.

I do have to say that I admired the energy of the performance.  I also feel like, as the semester goes on, I’ll understand a bit more of the humor.  The main characters were coloured men (meaning mixed race), and the relationships showed on stage (especially those with their mothers) and their views toward the outside world must have been spot on as they clearly resonated with the audience.

Of course, not everything was alien to us.  The tired jokes about the married life seem to permeate comedy everywhere.  And unfortunately, the token gay character made an appearance.  We had to suffer through the scene where he hooks up with someone and the friends ask HER name, and he responds, “Stephen.” And then he sings a really stereotypical song…and then double entendre with the word “queen”… Ah, oh well.

I’ll be back soon with pics of my peninsula tour (spoiler alert: they include penguins.) I won’t have much to say about those as it was basically a whirlwind tour of the area.  And as for the beauty of the sites, the pictures will speak for themselves.

After that, I won’t be posting for a week at least as I’m off to Victoria Falls before classes begin on Friday the 13th.   With three good friends I’ve made, I’ll be visiting the falls in Zambia and Chobe Park in Botswana.  Should be exciting!