Oh Barbara, Oh Barry

Barbara & Barry's Sweet, Sour and Saucy

Jerdacuttup Hall.

The consensus has arrived, and we have all agreed that Barbara & Barry’s Sweet Sour & Saucy lived up to its name. Locally presented by Ravensthorpe Regional Arts Council in partnership with Country Arts WA, Melissa Western & Tnee Dyer (aka Barbara & Barry) are a highly talented pair who provided a thoroughly entertaining and polished show. At times absolutely hilarious, the performance was top class, with the audience fully engaged and appreciative of the musical skills of the pair. We even had Eva and Tim Flanagan renewing their wedding vows on stage after 56 years, complete with cavorting bridesmaids!

The Jerdacuttup Community Association played host to the event on Saturday 12^th of August 2017, setting up the Jerdacuttup Hall in true retro style complete with checkered tablecloths and Bakelite items. The food was delicious and the hospitality warm and welcoming as always.

During “Barbara & Barry’s” Hopetoun visit, they hosted two community workshops. Firstly, on Friday night, the music workshop gave beginners a simple approach to extend their skills in improvising, particularly using a basic 12 bar blues rhythm. Members from the local ukulele group “RHUkulele” strummed away with delight as they picked up a few tricks of the trade.

Then there was the singing workshop which was dubbed ‘pure fun’, especially when participants were paired and asked to improvise a duet, to Anthony's skilled piano accompaniment.  In this exercise, each pair sang gibberish to each other, with grand theatrical gestures to enhance the message. Talk about some budding opera stars...

Under Melissa and Barry's expert guidance we were also asked to improvise a short blues refrain, with some hilarious results as all tried valiantly to come up with lyrics on such diverse topics as boots, men (or lack of them), women and rain. A thoroughly enjoyable and successful hour.

All in agreement, Barbara & Barry were excellent. We'd love to see them back again; if laughter is the best medicine then this show left us all feeling mighty fine! Thank you to all community members who made the event a laugh out loud success.

Tour coordinated by Country Arts WA.