Kahlil Ashanti - Basic Training

Kahlil Ashanti's Basic Training has been described as "heart rending drama, energetic physical comedy and mind blowing rap dance" – which seems a lot for a single show to provide. It's also not exactly what one would necessarily expect from a show about, er, joining the US armed forces.

"It is very autobiographical," explains Ashanti. "It is a true story. The only thing that is not accurate is the time frame and the number of characters. For instance, the Drill Seargent was actually three people but I had to combine him into one. So, just things like that. The happenings and the incidents are definitely true."

So did Basic Training start as a series of anecdotes that grew into a show? "That is exactly what it was. It started out with me just wanting to tell stories about my time touring with Tops in Blue [the entertainment unit of] the Air Force, because I would tell my friends that that my job in the Air Force was performing, and of course they thought, 'oh that's a tough duty, ohhhhhh, singing and dancing, whoa, serving your country' but then I tell them these life-threatening yet hilarious situations we were in."

And it may have stayed as a series of stories were it not for the intervention of one Jeffrey Tambor, the comic actor perhaps best known for his defining roles as Hank "Hey Now!" Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show and George Bluth Sr on Arrested Development.

"I took an acting class in LA with Jeffrey Tambor, and he is such an inspiring person to be around – and his acting class is where this show materialised. Jeffrey had all the students get on stage at one point or another, and I would tell these funny stories and he would stop me in mid-sentence: 'OK, I don't want you to take my class to be funny. The reason for taking my class is to become a better actor. You're not going to do that by staying in your comfort zone. I want to know why you joined the military, why were you in Tops in Blue,  and I want you to act it out for me: go!'" He laughs at the memory. "So, I started acting out the first scene that I can remember, which was the night before I left for boot camp to escape an abused childhood where my mom told me that the guy who had abused me my whole life wasn't my real dad. And Jeffrey stopped me there and said 'That's it, that's the story I wanna hear you tell.'"

Hold on: Mrs Ashanti waited until just before her son shipped off to the military to mention that dad wasn't dad?

"Oh, she swears she has told me before," he laughs. "She says I probably just forgot."

A show like Basic Training, then, would seem to be either a way to work through some fairly profound issues, or a massively painful way to keep old wounds from ever healing.

"You know, I think it would keep the wounds open if there wasn't an audience," Ashanti counters. "I mean, it has been therapeutic only because after the show I make it a point to shake hands with as many people as possible to thank them for coming to see the show, and then they tell me how much it means to them that I put these moments of my life on stage. I think that when you are honest with people they feel like they can be honest with you and that has really been the joyous part of this painful process."

Which of course raises the question of how the hell one follows it.

"Yeah, I wonder what I'm going to do next. There are so many opportunities that have come out of it and I don't really worry. I think, like Basic Training, whatever I do hopefully will come from a place of honesty and hunger. And at the moment I am working on sketch show for [UK production company] Tiger Aspect in UK with The Pajama Men."

Keen readers might recall that The Pajama Men were recently here for the Sydney Comedy Festival – and, furthermore, that they won the Best of the Festival award at the annual Time Out Sydney Comedy Awards.

"They're very good friends of mine, we came up together the Fringe circuit together and we wanted to collaborate on something and Tiger Aspect approached them after they sold out in London and said we want to do a sketch show and they said, we want to do it with Kahlil. So, that is something that has come out of this."

And finally: what does Ashanti's mum think of the show?

"She has been really brave, man. When I first wrote the show I talked with her about it and said that since I am putting her life in display, did she want me to change her name or not put her in it, and she said no. She said, 'Kahlil, you have taken something so terrible and made it into something so wonderful and I want everyone to know that this is life! You can't mask it!'" He smiles. "I just really respect her for that."

Basic Training runs at the Seymour Centre 23 Jun-4 July.

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