By Darren Gilbert

Everyone knows about the brilliance of Defending the Caveman. It's the longest-running and most successful solo comedy in local theatre history. How much pressure does that place on you when sitting down to write anything new?

Ahh, the expectations are very high and especially with that at your back. When I started doing Defending the Caveman in 1997, I had been told I would have a 12-week run. That was going to be it. Next year, the show will have run for 20 years.

But the kind of pressure it puts on me is actually positive because it makes me sure my sh*t is okay. I can't just put out stuff. It has to be of a certain level, both intellectually and entertainment wise.

Your new show, Gym & Tonic: The Memory of an Old Muscle, debuts at the 2016 Grahamstown Arts Festival. Can you tell me what it's about?

I wrote a book a couple of years ago called Fitness for Old Fats which was a funny exercise book for guys over the age of 50. It had real stories in it about people of different personalities and body sizes and shapes. It also had programmes for them on how to get fit as well as diets and recipes.

It was very successful for me and something that I enjoyed doing. I also knew that it was too good an idea and the stories were too funny not to use in another format. So about 7 or 8 months ago, I thought I'd write a play based on this conundrum that okes over the age of 50 get. How do we stay in shape yet not kill ourselves?

That's the inspiration for Gym & Tonic.

As for the premise of the play, there are these 3 guys, each of them over the age of 55 whose friend, Bill, dies of a heart attack at 57. At his wake, the three of them get terribly drunk and they sign a contract to get fit. This show is about them living up to their contract.

How different is Gym & Tonic from Defending the Caveman? Would someone who loved Defending the Caveman enjoy this too?

The great thing about Gym & Tonic is that it is something totally different. It's not Caveman related or anything like that. It's completely different.

But I do think it's the same kind of thinking [as Defending the Caveman], if you know what I mean. I think that a lot of people will recognise themselves in one of the characters or in parts of the characters.

They will be able to look at themselves and say, 'Yeah, I feel like that' or 'I know that feeling'.

It's also a funny funny play. And it's real. This is a real play about real people.

What can audiences expect when they sit down to watch Gym & Tonic?

I hoping that my reputation over the past 40 years will make people want to go watch it. It also has the best title of any play I've ever written.

I also have a fantastic cast in Mike Huff, Russel Savadier and Caitlin Salgado. All of them read the play and immediately said they were in and that they wanted to go to Grahamstown.

As for what to expect, I am hoping you'll be slightly shocked. I am hoping that your eyes will be slightly widened and that you'll be laughing a lot.

And then I hope you will go home and join the gym.

Does that mean you have certain expectations for Gym & Tonic?

No, I actually have none. It's one of those few times where I have no idea of what to expect.

I was going to have both a director and somebody to play the part that I'm playing. As it ended up, the director had to go to hospital for an operation and my great pal, Paul Ditchfield, had to pull out because of commitments for The Bats.

So it ended up that I played both in it and directed it. I'm so close to the project that it's hard to have any expectations.

So for all your fans, where and when can we see it?

It opens at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival on the 30th of June and runs for five shows until the 4 of July at the Thomas Pringle Hall Theatre which is in the monument.

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