Review: Basic Training

Kahlil Ashanti’s Basic Training is billed as a comedy, indeed, as “the international hit comedy” — and, yes, it is in parts a very funny show, performed by a young man with great skills in writing and delivering funny lines, and in using his whole body to augment the humour.

But Ashanti and his largely autobiographical one-man show are about much, much more than comedy. The material is often deeply personal, very serious and ultimately profoundly touching.

In a strictly literal sense, even the show’s title would really only apply to the first quarter or so of the performance — when the German-born black American is inducted into the United States Air Force and undergoes his rather dehumanising year of initiation.

That Ashanti can find and portray so much humour out of what must have been quite a humiliating and soul-destroying process in itself says much for his spirit.

Deep down, you know that what’s happening is bastardisation in the name of the system and that it’s really not funny at all. But Ashanti has the skill and genuineness to make you laugh loudly and unselfconsciously.

You can easily see how he won the 1993 Air Force World Wide Talent Contest and spent two years in with Tops in Blue, the force’s elite entertainment troupe.

The man can not only write and deliver great lines. He can act, sing, dance, almost pop his eyes into the audience, and do amazing contortions with this ample pecs.

Most impressive, though, is his ability to change character almost instantly, from being himself to being his long-suffering mother, his belligerent, overbearing step-father, the bullying Air force instructor, the lovable, twitching cadet with turrets syndrome (they did make him a guard, however, gave him a gun!), the young girl dying from cancer, or, ultimately, to his recently found real father.

It’s the family stuff that really stands out ... his deep love for his mother ... his determination to extract her from a doomed, soulless, violent relationship ... his coming to terms with a father who deserted his family. It’s here that you realise the show’s title refers as much to life as it does to the Air Force

Kahlil Ashanti is a great talent and a special human being. Keep an eye out for him.

At the end of the show, I wondered why he exited through the theatre rather than backstage. I quickly found the answer as we left. There he was, shaking hands with every member of the audience, personally thanking them for having come along. As I said ... a special human being.

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