{"id":2279,"date":"2017-07-06T19:42:34","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T17:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2279"},"modified":"2017-07-06T19:42:34","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T17:42:34","slug":"kidcasino-all-that-glitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2279","title":{"rendered":"KidCasino: All that glitters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve missed a few damn good shows because there was no way I was going to GrandWest Casino to watch them.<\/p>\n

Then I sometimes wonder if I am not just being a high-faluting arse. Maybe I should get over myself and brave the jangling money monsters and faux Tuscan star-studded ceilings.<\/p>\n

But KidCasino<\/em>\u00a0firmly reinstated my utter horror of the beeping soulessness of those clamouring idols to greed.<\/p>\n

The fabulous Roberto Pombo and bouncey Joni Barnard, ingeniously directed by Toni Morkel, are running sugar-crazed wild through the digital prairie of the Sun Star Casino while mom feeds her money to the machines of Mammon and gets pissed.<\/p>\n

Dressed all in white with a vampire gleam in their eyes, neon lights flashing in the soles of their takkies, the kids bound through the apparent delights of their glittering playground.<\/p>\n

But we soon realise these cute kids are not all that they seem.<\/p>\n

They start out using a white handbag as a symbol of mother (which brought to mind that fantasic play Father Father Father<\/em><\/a>, declaring her to be the best mom eva!). They get R150 each and race into the maelstrom but soon run out of money.<\/p>\n

A voice over from the casino exhorts punters to \u201cPlay big, to win big!\u201d An interview with a winner reveals she won three grand. \u201cHow much did you spend?\u201d booms the voice. \u201cTen thousand\u201d is the miserable reply. \u201cCongratulations!\u201d bellows the casino.<\/p>\n

Things start getting dark as mom remains glued to the gaming machines and not answering her phone anymore.<\/p>\n

Our sugar-rushing cute kids turn Machiavellian, manipulative little shits. But with mom a sad slave to the empty promise of the gaming machines, who can blame them?<\/p>\n

The lights swirl, reality turns in on kaleidoscopic self, teeth are bared, eyes turn white hot.<\/p>\n

This high-octane piece exposes our obsession with modern capitalism for the horrible and sad truth. We get fleeced. They make the money. We feel ill.<\/p>\n

Was this funded by the Lotto? It’s great.<\/p>\n

KidCasino is on the Arena programme at the National Arts Festival until Sunday 9 July. Book here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 * This is a kitchen table review, which means it was dictated to another critter, like Mike Loewe, while essential domestic chores, like cooking, were being attended to.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve missed a few damn good shows because there was no way I was going to GrandWest Casino to watch them. Then I sometimes wonder if I am not just … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}