| What: Dalin Oliver – Stuck in Dubai
When: July 21 to August 1, 2026 |
I loved Dalin Oliver’s Stuck in Dubai, which is on in the Baxter Studio, July 21 to August 1, 2026. The show is hysterically funny – and inspirational. This is Oliver on fire. It is a Proudly South African love letter to our country for giving us skills to deal with challenging and unexpected situations.
Challenging is what occurred when Oliver landed in Dubai at 5am. February 28 He was on a quickie layover to the Adelaide Fringe, to perform his show 90 Day Comedian. With the conflict/war between USA, Israel and Iran, the sleepover in his a hotel (free with a layover) was going to be longer than planned. Missiles were being fired – and fortunately – intercepted. Flights were cancelled. He was stuck there for four days.
Oliver posted on social media about what was happening. The posts were followed widely – in Australia and South Africa. Some went viral. After, four days of being stuck in Dubai, he made it to the Adelaide Fringe, to perform his show, 90 Day Comedian. But that is another story. The side-show in Dubai became a live show as the laconic Oliver, charted the travails of travel, much to the delight and fascination of his fans. Colleagues encouraged him to create a show from the postings. It was pure comedy gold. And the result was Stuck in Dubai – the stage comedy show.
Stuck in Dubai premiered at the 2026 National Arts Festival in Makhanda and received an Ovation Award. And here he is, in Cape Town at the Baxter. The comedy show draws extensively on the matériel from his posts, but has been impeccably crafted into a superb piece of comedy theatre. Watching the show – Stuck in Dubai – is a different experience from watching the posts, logged while it was all happening. I use the word matériel – referring to the war dinghus used by soldiers – weapons, vehicles – and missiles in Oliver’s sojourn in Dubai. Oliver extruded gags, hilarious anecdotes from a situation that was not so funny. It was terrifying.The fear and frustration (not being able to communicate for instance with the airline to re book flights) is there and we go with him on this journey – ducking the missiles – getting a ticket out.
In terms of timeline, he departed Cape Town on February 27, 2026. He landed at 5am in Dubai, February 28. His show in Adelaide was on March 4 at 4pm. He landed on March 4 at 2pm (via Sydney) and made it to the performance.
I am thinking of Abraham Lincoln who apparently said :“I laugh because I must not cry” and that is what Oliver did. Others freaked out, although he admits in Stuck in Dubai that he was “calm but stressed”. He is also humble, with self-deprecatory chirps: “I was at the peak of my career in a war zone”.
Oliver’s shtick on the economics of the trip are used as leitmotif, as a foil to combat the scary and unknown stuff. He says he had been chuffed to get a cheap ticket with a layover – and A FREE night in a hotel. The Rand is “so stressed and traumatised”. By getting all these options, it was like being “a vegan in a butcher shop”, for the Rand.
One of the other narrative lines in the show is how as South Africans, we don’t have the experience (thank goodness) of dealing with missiles. We know about botched parachutes at the Rand Easter Show and airplanes, with fly banners advertising Mavericks. But missiles – being intercepted – oops no. Woven into the show, is his appreciation and love for his wife, the singer, Maxine Ceaser and their courtship (so sweet), his family and friends and their assistance while he was stuck in Dubai. I am thinking of the song, One night in Bangkok. Maybe, Maxine can write a song – Four nights in Dubai and they can add that in, with her making a guest appearance.
Do not miss Stuck in Dubai. It is fantab fun.
✳ Dalin Oliver performing, Stuck in Dubai, Baxter Studio. Pic Robyn Cohen/TheCapeRobyn July 21, 2026