Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision

Culture comes to Ballina by way of Eurobeat.

This send-up of the European phenomenon Eurovision commenced with the audience wondering what hit them and ended up with full audience participation.

The overall production was under the control of Paul Belsham who engaged 3 co-directors, each of whom produced 3 of the 12 countries entries; giving a fresh approach to each segment.

Congenial hosts Sergei (Brian Pamphilon) and Boyka (Jaime Whittingham – who also choreographed the segments) steered the audience through the evening with their witty banter, innuendo and double entendre.

As is the Ballina tradition, great technical support enhanced the production and the show was a team effort with each cast member representing only one country so everyone got an opportunity to “strut their stuff”, thus gaining valuable experience and training for their future stars.

The highlight of the performance for me was the ABBA clones from Sweden and the overall winners on the night, as voted by the audience, was Liechtenstein.

In future, it will be hard to take the Eurovision Song Contest seriously.

Roger McKenzie

Image: On ya, England!