Timeline Entry: 1969 (probable) – Finger Trouble Mark Two
Production: Finger Trouble Mark Two (also billed “Finger Trouble No. 2” / “Finger Trouble Mark II”) — a satirical revue devised, produced and performed by Robert Kirby, sequel to his original Finger Trouble, which had first run successfully at a Johannesburg nightclub before transferring to the boards of a theatre
Venue: Langham Restaurant Theatre, Johannesburg
Date: Opened 27 February — the year isn’t printed on any surviving clipping, but internal references date it to 1969: the reviews joke about a “Barnard number” (Christiaan Barnard’s first heart transplant, December 1967) and a “sidesplitting… Onassis wedding bit” (Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy on 20 October 1968) — both only work as topical satire once those events had happened, placing the 27 February opening in 1969
Cast: Robert Kirby, Elaine Lee, Aubrey Ellis, Beryl Ellis
The Ellis Contribution: Aubrey and Beryl Ellis appeared as the show’s singing duo, described in the press as “two singers who can range further than merely folk music.” Both reviews singled out their contribution: one called their numbers “several charming and meaningful ballads from Aubrey and Beryl,” the other wrote that “the delightful duettists, Aubrey and Beryl Ellis” needed better amplification in the room but that “the Ellis’s duet harmonising is always a pleasure.”
Critical Acclaim: Bill Edgson, “Kirby Stones Crowd With Satire” — called Kirby “a savage yet screamingly funny satirist,” and praised the show’s second half in particular. A second, unsigned notice, “Mixed Grill with Robert Kirby,” singled out Elaine Lee’s “reading of a Hillbrovian Hippie fairy story” and the returning “Professor Barnard sketch,” carried over and updated from the original Finger Trouble, as the evening’s high point.
Context: The original Finger Trouble began as a nightclub show before its success moved it into a proper theatre — Kirby’s pattern of testing material in cabaret rooms before staging it formally recurs throughout his career.
(Correction: replace the current “Library Theatre” venue credit with Langham Restaurant Theatre, and update the date from 1962/1963 to 1969 (probable), per the above.)
