The remarkable one-man acting machine, Matthew Ribnick, returns to the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from December 8 to January 9 with Monkey Nuts, a new comedy about, well, people really. Ribnick, who was seen in Cape Town in the award-winning productions Hoot and The Chilli Boy, directed by Geraldine Naidoo, will play close to 20 characters with, as the producers promise, “hilarious results”

The play tells the story of Edgar Chambers; an ‘odd bod’ obsessed with entering all sorts of competitions.  He is a bank teller by profession with an unusual knack of sniffing out freebies and special offers.

His main hobby, though, is monitoring the prices of grocery items in various stores. So skilled is he at his hobby that he can tell you the price of any item, anywhere, and at any given time. It is, however, his obsessive competition-entering that sparks off the madcap story that has had audiences, who have seen the show, gasping for breathe.

Edgar’s only friend is a monkey that lives in the back of a pet shop. As the story unfolds the audience is introduced to a host of hysterical characters - all with some sort of connection to Edgar and all performed by Ribnick.

While creating Monkey Nuts, Naidoo anticipated that the new show would be a lot more demanding, both physically and vocally, than the previous two, so she signed up Ribnick for various activities which included yoga, Tai Chi, fencing and singing lessons.

To help him become fit enough for the role he has been attending seven yoga classes and eight Tai Chi classes a week. 

Both Naidoo and Ribnick share the belief that stage actors need to be as fit as professional athletes to truly realise their potential on the stage.  Ribnick, at 35, also has rather ambitious dreams of qualifying for the Olympics in fencing. 

Matthew is the 2005 Naledi Award for Best Comedy Performance-winner and the 2006 Fleur Du Cap Award recipient for Best performance in a one-hander and has been nominated for numerous others. 

Geraldine Naidoo is a Wits Drama graduate who considers herself fortunate to be able to take up her love and passion for writing and directing full-time after spending a decade in the corporate world.

She has managed to achieve both critical and commercial success over the years. In 2007 Geraldine received the Rosalie Van Der Gucht prize for New Directors at the Fleur du Cap awards for Hoot.

The Chilli Boy enjoyed a short sold-out season on London’s West-End in 2007.  In 2006 Hoot was invited to tour the Netherlands where the play received standing ovations. Last year she produced two seasons of Cape Town comedian Nik Rabinowitz in his stand-up comedy show, One Man One Goat, at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre.