Author: debeernecessities

I'm an arts journalists who loves writing about anything that captures my heart, moves my soul and creatively surprises and overwhelms me.

BONGI BENGU COLOURS THE WORLD BRIGHTLY WITH HER ART, HER LAUGHTER AND HER LIFE

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The artist Bongi Bengu is having a major exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum which runs from this Saturday (September 9) until November 5. She told DIANE DE BEER about her passion which is constantly evolving and reflecting her life, her dreams and hopes:

Pictures of Bongi Bengu taken at the Pretoria Farmer’s Market by Thomas Honiball.

When you first meet Bongi Bengu it is not a surprise to learn that she is an artist. She looks like an artwork herself.

She’s brightly dressed and the one characteristic most dramatic is her laughter. This is someone who loves life and her enthusiasm is contagious. She’s also not scared of showing herself.

But when you start talking about her art, her mood is reflective. “It’s a calling,” she says about this career which she has been passionate about for the past 26 years.

Her art is all about expressing herself but also healing, she says, something she hopes those who come to her exhibition will also experience. She infuses it into everything she does, her cooking, her clothes, dancing and music choices. “Art is like breathing.”

Titled The World / Umhlaba, the exhibition has been inspired by the tarot card called The World. “It means the end of a cycle and the beginning of another,” she explains. But she expands: “It could also mean that you’re in a powerful position to manifest your desires.”

The exhibition was first held at the Alliance Francaise, Pretoria where Pretoria Art Museum curator Mmutle Kgokong first saw it and felt that the space was too small for her work. “It looks cramped,” he said and invited her to show it at the museum.

Bongi feels it was meant to be. “We create our own world,” she says and that’s why this transformation from one exhibition to the next came quite naturally to this South African, who spent her youth in exile in Geneva Switzerland where she completed most of her schooling until the last few years, which she spent at Waterford Kamhlaba in Swaziland.

Bongi’s Golde Orb Mask

Her parents (her father Sibusiso Bengu was both an ambassador and Minister of Education) felt that she needed to experience some of her school years on the African continent. And this is also where she forged her future. While doing a research project for which she earned a distinction and which included interviewing established  artists, she discovered Helen Sebidi who was an inspiration and opened her eyes – and her heart – to the art world.

“That’s when I knew,” she says about her artistic beginnings. Becoming the world traveller that she is, she later enrolled and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree at Mount Vernon College, Washington DC, and completed a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at The University of Cape Town. She has since participated in numerous international residencies and workshops.

For this current exhibition she wanted to reflect on the different stages of her work and she has tried to select pieces from all the different periods. She started with pastels and charcoals using mostly earthy colours.

Bongi’s Rebirth IV

Then she joined the Bag Factory Artist Studio where she did mostly collages initially and then turned to an organic period where she focussed on leaves and soil.

Only then came colour which now seem such a part of her life. She confesses that she sees herself as an artwork and when you look at her, it’s easy to see why. What a canvas she has been given to play with. It’s not only her work that turns heads.

Once she started planning this exhibition, she started a conversation with two curators, one at Washington DC’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Teresa Bush) where she had interned for a while and the other in Sweden (a South African lecturing there, Nkule Mabaso). “It was through dialogues with them about my work that I made selections,” she says. They will also be writing for her catalogue which will be available at the end of the two month exhibition.

Bongi’s Self portrait in the sand

When discussing her work, Bongi explains that she is inspired by her life and the experiences she has had. It all begins in her head, but once she starts working on paper or canvas, it’s usually something quite different that emerges.

Working mostly on your own can be quite a lonely existence, but Bongi enjoys her own company and finds her painting therapeutic. “This is how I work through problems,” she says. “I never feel alone.”

Bongi at work.

In her life as in her work, she describes herself as someone who doesn’t conform to society’s norms. “That’s not easy in my community, a single Black woman with no children!” But it’s her life and she marches to her own beat. Growing up and travelling around the world yet returning to South Africa, she functions easily wherever she finds herself.

As I watch her finding her feet at Silverton’s famous Farmer’s Market, it’s easy to believe her. She’s colourful, has a laugh that stops a crowd and a life that’s creative and of her own making.

Bongi’s Montana Birds (left) and Life of Domesticity (right)

She says she knows she was a man in her former life and that she wanted desperately to paint, but it wasn’t possible. “At that time, the women were the painters making huge murals. I knew I would come back as a woman so that I could fulfil my dream. And now I also know when women think that men have easier lives, it’s not always true!”

The exhibition will run until 5 November at the Pretoria Art Museum.

It will be opened officially by His Excellency HE Mr Antonis Mandritis, Ambassador of Cyprus and the work can be toasted courtesy of Durbanville Hills. Everyone is welcome.

TWO PRETORIA SCIENTISTS EXPLORE THE MIRACLES OF MUSHROOMS

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Two savvy scientists are quietly revolutionising the world of mushrooms with their biological control solutions to enhance sustainable farming as well as their triumphant growing of truffles in moss chambers 365 days a year. DIANE DE BEER found herself in their bubble of wonderment in their factory in an industrial hub in Pretoria:

State-of-the-art Musterion factory

When I first heard about two Pretoria scientists, Helga Dagutat (microbiologist) and Nita Breytenbach (plant physiologist), who are producing truffles, I was excited to meet these two women who seem to be changing and challenging existing norms in a world where few women even in these current times can kick dust in the eyes of their male counterparts.

And they delivered not only on the truffles but also in personality and a characteristic which I suspect is their driving force, perseverance, in bucketsful.

Nita Breytenbach (plant physiologist) and Helga Dagutat (microbiologist)

I was  invited, to my delight, to attend their second truffle-inspired and infused dinner, and I couldn’t have been more excited.

The last one was a year earlier and this time the menu was inspired by ancient ingredients and to listen to Helga talk about an almost year-long experiment with the menu and the produce, is what the whole truffle experience means to these two women.  They have added their own kitchen in the factory where they play.

A truffle from the moss chambers.

Their main line of business is their biological control solutions which enhance sustainable farming, thus empowering farmers. And with the tide turning overwhelmingly  to biological rather than chemical control, these two have found themselves ahead of the curve. It is fascinating to hear them describe the development of their unusual business which is based on the use of the edible mushroom mycelium to control the pests that could damage the crops and as Nita explains it, with healthy results overnight. Mushrooms rule almost everything they do. They have even been quoted as saying that it is mushrooms that produce their amazing plant life at the factory.

But we are gathered to celebrate truffles and I’m not going to expand on the technical hazards experienced with growing truffles, only delight in the fact that these two women have developed a way of growing truffles 365 days a year in moss chambers … in their state-of-the-art factory in Koedoespoort. This side of the business called Mustérion is all about truffles.

Welcoming fires in the courtyard
Arrivals

They are growing two kinds: the black ones which are found in Perigold, France (Tuber melanosporum) as well  as the white ones (Tuber magnatum) found in the Piedmont region of Italy.On the night, we were treated to an abundance of what is more commonly referred to as black diamonds (even if that term has a different meaning in this country, intention of the phrase is the same).

But to the menu. Just looking at the detail, beautifully presented by their graphic designer, it is clear that the theme of the evening Ancient Ingredients from Earth to Plate – Mustérion, makes complete sense.

Truffles were probably first discovered (according to the notes on the menu) by the Amorite civilisation where archaeologists excavating a 4 000-year-old Amorite palace found remnants of truffles still in their baskets. And it is this sense of ancient mystery that they wanted to capture for diners at this unusual event.

Amuse bouche

From the amuse bouche, presented in their dramatic courtyard with huge fires burning and Pretoria’s night sky presenting the perfect backdrop, how can one not go weak at the knees at the presentation of charcoal (burns warmer than wood and was used by the Egyptians to smelt ore in ancient times) tortilla parcels filled with porcini cream and Mustérion Craft Truffles.

I think the word umami was probably invented for truffles. How does one even try to describe the taste sensation this much revered and precious ingredient unlocks? But with the inventors of this specific version, they also know how to create a menu that will best showcase their particular gem. We were told we could have two, but I knew what was waiting and first one’s flavours were still working their particular magic.

A table for a truffle feast.

Inside an open space in the factory, at the long table, the perfect setting and magically dressed for the night, we had been assigned seating. I was blessed to find Nita on my left and Helga across the table ready with insight about her meticulously crafted menu.

Caremalized pear (one of the oldest cultivated fruits) and Cremezola soup with the craft truffle served with an ancient bread and … truffle butter naturally … had me salvivating. Amaranth seed (which was domesticated 8 000 years ago by the Inca, Maya and Aztec)was used in the bread. The pear, the cheese and truffles, that’s a no brainer,

 How I loved seeing the phrase sorghum (8 000 BC traces were found in Egypt) mille-feuille at the start of the next description. The filling was the fairytale-shaped Shimeji mushrooms paired with Macadamia complimented by a cheddar and artichoke mousse with craft truffle. It was the most deluxe comfort food I have had in the longest time.

Rooibok carpaccio with Grano Padano (similar to Parmigiano but produced by monks a 1000 years ago), Baobab craft truffle spheres and a prickly pear purée (fossilised seeds more than 7 000 years old found in Mexico) was plated so artistically, I hated spoiling the picture, but it was one of my favourites. The combinations simply sang exquisitely.

If  I mention favourite, every new dish, brought yet another truffle extravagance, so to reflect about the best is a senseless endeavour. It was the complete table that underlined the excellence and excitement of the night.

A taco with a cashew parsley paste filled with date and spiced honey butter  (truffle enhanced) topped with charred mielies (which emerged at the dawn of human agriculture about 10 000 years ago) followed by the eland fillet topped with greens and Kremetart mustard (which Helga exclaimed with enthusiasm as “next level” and I agree fully). The oldest Kremetart tree -or Baobab – has been dated as at least 1 800 years old.  And how clever of her to add that to the dish which was further bolstered by a pap and queso sauce with truffle.

It sounds like much too much, but it was a tasting menu magnificently paired by the affable Gavin van Zyl who I had previously always met in his barista capacity. But on this night he was the main chef guiding the students from the thriving Capital Hotel School as his assistants. He was also assisted by chef Paula Wilson, someone who has a deep passion for food – the eating of it, the cooking of it and exploring different flavours, textures and cuisines.

Gavin was also responsible for the adventurous wines paired spectacularly with every course.

His choices were done by memory because he had to make them without tasting the food, yet knowing the menu. “For me, the challenge was to get people to think about what they were tasting before and after tasting the wine – and vice-versa,” he says. And he did this excellently with a marvellous selection .

Bonbons made with Ethical Eats cacao with 25g truffle each served with French cognac

The atmosphere was magnifique, the company foodies all, and the extended evening slipped by languorously.

I had a taste of the ancient potato (have to include that when talking ancient produce) pudding with a nutty Cacao drizzle and truffle as well as the most exquisite truffle BonBons served with Dubouché French Cognac again outside around the fire to complete the full circle that the Mustérion evening represented.

It is the extraordinary vision of Nita and Helga, the way their scientific minds work, what they have developed and achieved in such a short time and perhaps most importantly, they are always at play. And that is what I found most contagious – and joyful.

THE MESMERISING WONDROUS LIFE OF PI

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Review by DIANE DE BEER:

It all happens on stage with all the bells and whistles . Credit: Johan Persson

LIFE OF PI BY YAN MARTEL ADAPTED BY LOLITA CHAKRABARTI

Director: Max Webster

Cast: Hiran Abeysekera and the magnificent puppets

Set and Costume Designer: Tom Hatley

Puppet and Movement Director: Finn Caldwell

Puppetry Designers: Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell

Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin

Sound Design: Carolyn Downing

Composer: Andrew T Mackay

Scheduled screenings on 27 August at 2.30, and on 30 and 31 August at 5.30, but check your area for loadshedding, when screening times might change.

Halfway through the filmed version of this spectacular West End play, the director, designer and writer (who adapted the book) have a short chat about the play and how it all began. For the writer it was about the story, finding all the important bits and pulling them together for the stage version. For the director, it was about what could work on stage and how to do it. And for the designer it all began with the Richard Parker, the tiger.

Life of Pi imagined in spectacular style. Credit: Johan Persson

Anyone who has read the book and now sees the filmed play will know that this is where the struggle on every level is centred and, once they got that right, it was all systems go. And that’s no small thing. I counted seven puppeteers just for the tiger. It’s simply spectacular – the design, the puppets, the lighting, the video and the sound. That’s why I listed all the names in the credits. It’s a production with all the bells and whistles and yet it holds the heart of the story with the performances by Abeysekera and the animals that come to life.

Seven puppeteers are listed in the credits just for the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson

It’s clear that imagination was the key requirement for this fantastic book, which tells the story of a 16-year-old boy named Pi who is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger.

We know he has made it because he is telling the story to two scientific types, the one sympathetic, the other a sceptic.

Hiran Abeysekera as Pi with one of his companions, a zebra. Credit: Johan Persson

But the wizardry of the play is all achieved by the magical approach and manner of telling and showing the marvellous Mantel story with no missteps. And although just the set is enough as it moves and rises and changes form to overwhelm the story, everything holds together in the way it should with Pi and his animal friends taking centre stage.

The experience is mesmerising and the two and a half hours flies by as Pi cajoles and cunningly sweet talks and outsmarts his sometimes ferocious and reluctant companions. It’s a kind of Alice-in- Wonderland adventure yet perhaps with a touch more reality than wonder, even if that is always present.

The determination of Pi to achieve his destiny draws you into both his pain and pleasure and this journey, keeping in mind that is after all a stage play, is all about the overwhelming power of theatre when done this magnificently.

Pi in conversation with Richard Parker, the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson

I have to admit, I think Pi and his friend Richard Parker and their struggle for survival have everything to do with it!

The NT Live experience is an expensive exercise but you are seeing some of the best theatre experiences the world has to offer. If that’s your gig, don’t think twice.

Bookings at Ster Kinekor: Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg, Ster-Kinekor Brooklyn in Pretoria, Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and Ster-Kinekor Gateway in Umhlanga.

MIKE VAN GRAAN’S PIERCING GAZE PERFECTLY CHANNELED BY KIM BLANCHE ADONIS AT THEATRE ON THE SQUARE

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DIANE DE BEER reviews:

MY FELLOW SOUTH AFRICANS

WRITTEN BY Mike van Graan

PERFORMED BY Kim Blanche Adonis

CHANNELING DIRECTION BY Rob van Vuuren and Daniel Mpilo Richards

PLAYING AT Theatre on the Square Sandton

UNTIL September 2 (Tuesday to Friday at 7.30pm and Saturdays at 5 and 8pm)

Booking at Computicket

Kim Blanche Adonis has style, sass, sparkle and a suitcase stuffed with characters and wise Van Graan words.

Playwright Mike van Graan has the gift of casting his net, finding the right focus and then going in for the kill in the most devastating fashion.

But all of this is done with such skill and finesse that, even in those uncomfortable moments when you might be the target, you nod in agreement.

Yes, it is incredibly funny until it isn’t. And, sadly, in this country, it often isn’t. This time he has found a devastating target  –  the upcoming elections. With the unravelling of the country so visible in the Eskom fiasco which just keeps going, never letting up, his audience (and it was packed to the rafters on opening night) are rooting all the way. We have all suffered enough and there’s often a collective sigh.

Thirty years into our post-apartheid democracy, he tells us, our country is in desperate need of change, a reset, a re-imagining of the dream we had some three decades ago. And then he reveals the real purpose of the play: everyone agrees that the elections in 2024 offer an opportunity for the beginning of new beginnings, hence My Fellow South Africans, which he describes as his modest contribution to the discourse that may shape the elections, reflecting us back to ourselves, reminding us of our optimism, and finally urging us ‘to do something’.

And while he is humble in his aspirations, Van Graan has been doing this for most of his playwriting life, showing us who we are and just how much we are willing to take. Through the years, he has fine-tuned what he says and how to say it, and in this instance also gathered the perfect coterie of stage chums with whom he has collaborated on three one-person revues: Rob van Vuuren (director) and Daniel Mpilo Richards (performer but in this instance director) who also brought the star of this show, Kim Blanche Adonis, on board.

Taking over from Richards is no small ask and for the shortest time while acclimatising to her particular style, I wasn’t sure she was going to crack it – until she did with sheer determination, style, skill and an exuberant performance that never let up.

The text is dense, the demands on the actor intense, but she has taken this on with a will and willingness to make it her own. There’s nothing she’s not going to do to make a character work and her deftness with accents, complete comfort on stage and constant chameleon-like changes are astonishing. Van Graan has found a warrior for his sharpest words.

And as the audience, you have to tune in too. It’s fast and furious, and the writer doesn’t tread lightly as he flies fiercely through the South African landscape, demolishing everything he witnesses in a land that’s punch drunk as it faces one disaster after the other.

Just before the show, I was listening to a news report on the BRICS summit which revealed that the Chinese had gifted us R500 million, but it went on to report, R170 million had already disappeared! I can just imagine what Van Graan would do with that.

He wishes us a cathartic experience and it is that, but what I love the most is the way he lets rip with words and worries, always funny but never at the expense of the catastrophe of what has happened to this country we had such hopes for. He is piercingly honest. It’s not always possible to laugh and at some moments the spotlight on those of us who are born with privilege just because of the colour of a skin is vicious, as it should be.

Yes, he is there to entertain, and with the smarts of Adonis, it is just that, but he never turns away, softens the blow or shies away from making a point whatever the target might be. This is about our country, making the right choices and going into action rather than simply complaining.

Van Graan carries the moniker cultural activist because that is exactly what he does with all the skill of both his perceptive and piercing gaze and his writing wizardry.

It’s a blast!

AUTHOR/ACTRESS WILLEMIEN DU PREEZ TURNS A DEVASTATING FOLLY, A DREAM DASHED, INTO YET ANOTHER CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR

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Most of us have dreams that we hope will become reality one day, but sometimes life happens and we don’t get round to it. Willemien du Preez and her husband, whom she refers to as Liefie, decided on what many might suggest was the spur of a moment, to buy what they believed would be their dream farm. DIANE DE BEER speaks to the author about her book Plaas se Prys (Price of a Farm) (Protea Boekhuis):

He left a perfectly good job with all the richly earned rewards still waiting in the future and she waved goodbye to city life and everything familiar to her.

The Du Preez couple had been to visit the area far fom their current home in Gauteng, much closer to Cape Town, had lost their hearts almost at first sight and here they were, taking the first steps into what they hoped would be their dream life.

Willemien’s book is about this period in her life (if you don’t read Afrikaans, hold thumbs for a translation) in which she captures the adventures of two city slickers hoping to transform overnight into their version of Karen Blixen’s “I had a farm in Africa…”.

It all began when Willemien was battling the loss of an almost three-year-long project that had demanded blood, sweat and tears, but just didn’t work out. She longed for something peaceful, something beautiful and a respite – and to add to her dilemma, her husband was also battle-weary and simply dead tired.

With hindsight, this self-made adventure felt fantastical from the start. She describes it as two desperate individuals fleeing from their reality. “The mountains and a different lifestyle were appealing.”

A the time they didn’t regard this madcap move as such. Their children were adults, they had some money in the bank and Gauteng’s crime statistics were unnerving. “My husband always wanted to farm like his grandfather before him, and I wanted to live like my grandfather and grandmother, off the land.”

“We were still young enough to start over,” she explains, “probably a misguided romance with nature.”

The day they bought the farm was perfect. As Willemien describes it, they were overwhelmed by the spectacle of what they hoped to purchase – and then inhabit. “The fields, the mountains, the sky, the light, everything seemed to conspire.”

For the Du Preez’s, it felt like a gift. A rose-tinted picture emerged, the income it seemed would be more than they hoped for and it felt as though the farm had been made specifically to fulfil  their dreams

When your eyes rest on the cobbling stream, it fails to see the damage the flood waters could do during a terrifying rain storm. What they saw was a farming project for her husband and a restoration project for her. “I would restore the 100-year old  farmhouse with two attics into a holiday home for our children and the grand-children still to come. We were thinking of the future – yet not so much!”

Again, looking back, she knows that even when packing their belongings for the grand move, there was trepidation. “The alarm bells came from inside me after that first visit to the farm. It didn’t feel so right anymore.”

On their way back following their first visit, they argued, but not about their momentous purchase. “That was too late. We had already signed the papers,” she says. But reality set in almost immediately after their arrival on the farm. “I realised it wasn’t mist blowing over the farm, it was dust,” only now realising that it dominated her huge struggle to cling to the dream.

No wisdom was passed on when they bought the farm and probably they would not have listened. Once they had decided to throw in the towel, a neighbour described as a wise boervrou (farmer’s wife), said that if she were buying a farm, she would have visited often, even if the seller grew tired of the intrusion. She would have considered every vantage point before she made an offer. “Now I would tell my younger self, you have to talk to all the farmers in the region. You have to ask about the pitfalls, know the weather patterns and discover everything there is to know which will not be included in the sales pitch,”says Willemien.

She has gained insight, of course, and now she knows that you cannot lightly tackle something this extraordinary. “You can’t just decide one day to go farming. You must know the lay of the land and preferably come from there.”

Fortunately the Du Preezs are not people who simply take life lying down. After quitting the farm, they spent a few years rebuilding their life in Cape Town and environment. André returned to law and Willemien taught Afrikaans to English speakers, picked up her acting career and earned enough money in international ads to take them on an overseas trip.

Following a decade in the Cape, they returned to Gauteng to be closer to their children and grandchildren and she started writing this book after encouragement from another author, Johann Symmington.

There were dark times as the pandemic was both a threat yet provided the time to write. For Willemien, writing about something that still has an impact on their lives was therapeutic. I suspect the rewards from grateful readers will also help to heal some wounds. It’s a story told with searing honesty and a humanity that’s heart-warming.

It’s the kind of thing that many will identify with, told in a manner that is as frank as anyone can be when focussing on their biggest folly. But don’t we all mistakes and tumble down that slippery slope and if you can rise from that heroically, take a bow.

When I met her following a talk at the Vrye Weekblad Book Festival in Cullinan, I knew that this was a book I wanted to read. When a dream shatters, not everyone manages to put the pieces together again.

But Willemien and André have done exactly that. “I know that we have accepted  the past and each other.”

And most precious of all, that’s what they have left: each other.

BARBIE’S SWEETNESS WITH SASS AND MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’S HIGH-VOLTAGE ACTION ADD NECESSARY VERSATILITY TO CINEMA SCREENS

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Two very different movies have been drawing in the crowds with boasting admirers and detractors. DIANE DE BEER finds merit in both: the delightful Barbie as well as the Tom Cruise action extravaganza Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning Part One

Two very different heroes: Margo Robbie as Barbie and Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission Impossible

BARBIE

DIRECTOR: Greta Gerwig

CAST: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken

Barbie dolls were not my thing as a little girl. What got me wanting to see the film was the choice of director Greta Gerwig. She was first approached by Margot Robbie to write the script

And it wasn’t that I was such a fan of her most recent movie, the latest version of Little Women (which I thought had more appeal for a younger generation not yet familiar with a filmed version), it was because I thought (with Lady Bird in mind) that her take on the Barbie phenomenon would be sassy and smart.

The Perfect Pair

As a modern woman/filmmaker/scriptwriter, she would have to perform quite a dance to get this one right. With her and her partner, filmmaker/scriptwriter Noah Baumbach writing the script together about something which has become a painfully idealistic pinup of a doll, it would be intriguing.

Also, she has been vocal about accepting Robbie’s invitation to direct and that she wouldn’t have become involved with any other version.

She doesn’t disappoint. Starting with the script, the approach was incredibly inventive as they deconstruct the imposed vision to illustrate the unsustainability of that Barbie if the original version was the course you would keep following.

It might have worked in its time (and they did make concessions like a space Barbie before real women were allowed to have their own credit cards, as Gerwig notes in another interview), but today’s young Barbie’s potential followers would need a different take – and that’s exactly what Gerwig has given them.

It’s a smart, good-looking, entertaining and educational film with the only perfection they go for in the genius casting of its two lead actors, Robbie and Gosling.

Anyone who has seen Gosling’s Lars and the Real Girl will know that he has comedic chops and Robbie is a no-brainer who not only looks the part but also saw the possibilities of Barbie. She made all the right moves both on the production and the performance sides.

If anything, they could have pushed it even more in every aspect, but that’s just me. It is a perfect vehicle to set Barbie on the fast track with the latest target generation. And that is probably why Martell is happy to take any criticism of the original Barbie.

She’s been set up to take on the world once again.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE:

DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie

CAST: Tom Cruise as the hero; Esai Morales as evil personified; and a list of fabulous women all holding their own

It was evident very soon into the film that my partner and I had come to the cinema with very different expectations: he was looking for content and substance that has never been part of the series even though he was the better target for the movie; and I had no expectations but to have fun, giggle at the silliness of the script, and hang on to my seat during all the fast-paced action, which we have all seen in some form or another before, yet heightened here to the nth degree.

And this was only Part One. Apparently, the filmmakers say Part Two will be better.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt who is always on the run … to or from danger.

Is Tom Cruise ageing? Of course he is, like all our action heroes. I mention Harrison Ford as another example. And the list goes on. But as long as they still draw the crowds, they will keep reprising the roles.

And once you get beyond the age-defying make-overs, it’s all systems go. Cruise is long  past having to prove his acting skills. This is not the focus here. This is where he jumps on a motorbike and races to the edge of a majestic mountain cliff where he takes off and safely lands on a fast moving train with the help of a parachute. If you haven’t heard yet, he does his own stunts.

One of the many impressive stunt sequences.

And these are truly magnificent. It’s hair raising and huge fun to watch if you’re willing to let go and embrace this for what it is. If not, it’s not your movie. The plot can become laborious and the dialogue often incomprehensible, but it doesn’t matter.

Some like it, others don’t. The approach of the viewer matters. Cartoon by Dries de Beer aka Fatman as part of A Man and his Dog series.

It’s also a movie of which one doesn’t want to reveal any of the laughs or the high-voltage action. You need to go in cold, sit back, exhale and have a blast. That’s all this is about.

 It’s no more than a caper. That’s all you get, escapism deluxe.

AFROBOER – A CELEBRATION.TEN YEARS ON.WITH AN EXPLOSIVE FUTURE AHEAD…

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By Diane de Beer

When I think of Afroboer, I think about the people and the place first.

Simply the best.

It is the way owner Michelle Cronjé-Cibulka(above) has embraced her food empire or, as she names it, a baker’s café (including the deli and coffeeBAR), and grown it from its early beginnings.

It’s not a pop-around-the-corner kind of place for most people, you have to get into your car and drive there.

And it’s always busy and buzzing, but fortunately with many nooks and crannies and a spot for everyone. You can sit surrounded by people all doing their own thing or you can slip away somewhere quiet if that’s what you prefer.

We have to start with the people. From the start Michelle had a specific ethos. It’s wasn’t the easy route, but she knew it was the only way for her. She handpicked her staff and trained them to present the personalities they are today.

At work: Ignecious Makena (chef-in-training); Merveille Kapinga-Luis (Pastry Chef); Jefrey Masimula (chef-in-training)

They know what they’re doing, they do it well and this keeps the place humming. But that starts from the top with a heartbeat that has all the right rhythms.

Everyone will have their favourite spots and I will always think with fondness of a time during covid when they could start serving take-away coffees. I found a special corner in the garden where I could catch my breath and drink my coffee. It kept me sane.

My feathered friends.

Outside always steals my heart and I suspect it has much to do with the chickens who come out to gaze. They have such mesmerising impact.

The surroundings are exquisite and the atmosphere calming even though there’s a constant stream of people coming and going.

But none of this would matter if the food wasn’t their strongest feature. Everything else is a huge bonus but the menu is what truly makes a place sing.

Breakfast is king.

The name is a big clue. For breakfast I yet have to move past their Eggs Benedict, but my heart also misses a beat just from the descriptions: creamy Plain Baked Whiskey Oats or Plaasbrood French Toast, for example.

Michelle has learnt to bake bread from the best (in Knysna!) and her imagination keeps you intrigued as she is always thinking ahead with plans that reach for the stars – as they did right from the start.

Croissants freshly baked.

In the winter chill, Ertappel Sop or Lamb-shank and Tomato are equally enticing, but when I glance at the salads, Oh my Goodness Grain and the Rainbow Plant also grab my attention.

You have to be extra hungry for a hearty Pulled Pork Panini or Shredded Lamb on Whole-wheat.

And if you haven’t yet landed in trouble with their sweet delights, you’re stronger than most. Stay away from the baker’s café if you don’t want to indulge but make the time to discover your own favourites. It’s also ideal for gifts, beautifully presented, there’s much in the deli which can be collected for friends and family who need a special something.

Afroboer is where I come when I want good food, comfort, and the best place to have a conversation with a friend. Your time can be as long as you want it to last. In today’s fast world, it’s lovely to find that sweet spot where people welcome you to stay as long as you wish and to linger to your heart’s desire.

Do I know and adore Afroboer and Michelle. Of course I do. She easily won me over these past 10 years. She and her place stole my heart because of what she does and how she does it – all of it. And I’m constantly surprised at how she has expanded and grown her vision.

I also know, for her this is but the beginning. There are many plans on the cusp of being implemented and there are ideas still swirling around as they’re being fine tuned for the eventual reveal.

In the meantime, if this is what the first decade has delivered, I can’t wait for the next one!

THE DELICIOUS TEAM HAVE THEIR IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY IN FULL SWING FOR THEIR SPECTACULAR LANDJE 46 SEASONAL LUNCHES

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By DIANE DE BEER

PICTURES: Your Chapter Photography

If you haven’t been to a Landje 46 lunch magnificently presented long table placed under trees, get together a party of friends or family and go.

The chefs are Rachel Botes assisted by Lulu de Beer, and these two women are magicians in the kitchen.

Whenever I read a Rachel menu, I’m already intrigued. She has an imagination when it comes to food that gets those tastebuds jumping.

Let me tell you about the last one. Always held on a Sunday (starting at noon) Landje 46 is out Lynnwood way almost opposite Lombardis, 2 kilometres on the right hand side from the Solomon Mahlangu crossing.

This time the delicious team started with a first course of what might have read like nibbles, but there were four of them, each with a different Creation wine which was the beverage du jour

In fact, on arrival, the welcome drink was the celebratory Elation Cap Classique (MCC), a real treat.

There was a degustation of macaron with a papaya filling (trust Rachel to set the tone of the day with a splash of her favourite colour) paired with sauvignon blanc; followed by a curry meatball flavoured with Cape spice and enhanced by the Viognier; and then a Norwegian salmon fishcake with wild mushroom ragu and a pinot noir; and completed perfectly with a crusted beef fillet carpaccio and a swish of merlot.

Rachel has always been a pairing queen, and this was no different. In fact, each event is with a different winemaker which then also determines that particular meal.

Thick roasted pear soup, a fruit she favours, was the star of the second course served with a chardonnay which worked extremely well. And then followed the yummy warthog tagine with flatbread with Syrah Grenache and what I found fascinating was the gentle taste of the warthog, which should be popular with even those who aren’t adventurous carnivores.

In conclusion, she served an apple cake with a slice of brie with a Creation Blend. It was a perfect meal with a slight Malay theme going and every mouthful was delicious.

Personally, I always grab the opportunity to sample a Rachel taste explosion.

I have always liked the way she does food. She’s adventurous without being extreme and her flavours are always so intriguing.

One of the joys of her cooking is that you’re constantly learning, which is something that I have always cherished when it comes to food. Macaron with papaya filling? Really? Not only pretty, but once you taste, also delicate and delightful. And then to serve it as part of the starter course? Genius!

Here are the details of the next event, this coming Sunday. You won’t be sorry:

Tables

Marliese van der Linde whose brainchild the glorious Landje 46 events are, with a niece and a few gentle family friends.

Every first Sunday of the month

SEASONAL MENU designed by Rachel Botes from @original.delicious finely curated to enjoy with wine recommendations by Vergelegen Wine Estate.  

6 AUGUST at 11:30 FOR 12:00 

Live acoustic music 

R 650 per person R 200 for children under 12 (Margarita pizza & ice cream)

Limited space available

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
Email: landje46ongraham@gmail.com
Whatsapp: 083 250 4007
CASHLESS OR SNAPSCAN
BAR AVAILABLE to buy WINE, SODAS and BARISTA Coffee (from their famous coffee truck)

With this event’s wine partner, Vergelegen, it is part of Rachel’s challenge, but also the fun part of the event, when she starts working and playing with her imagination to come up with yet another perfect meal – and believe me, she always does.

This time the starter consists of shredded duck confit rolled in vine leaves, baked in pizza oven and drizzled with lemon sauce. (I could go just for that.)

Ice cream for the young ones and coffee for from the coffeetruck for the others as the perfect finalé.

The second course is a Mediterranean-style fish soup with the classic combination of fennel and orange served with a red pepper rouille and baguette (contains no shellfish).

Main or third serving of the day is African chicken cayenne served on spicy eggplant purée, oxtail pie with warm aromatic spices, red wine, orange and dark chocolate with seasonal vegetables.

If this doesn’t get all the juices flowing, her fourth course is one of Rachel’s magnificent specialities: a tasting of goat’s cheese nougat made with nuts and apricots.

To conclude what sounds like fantastic fare, a red wine cake will be served with guava ice cream.

Having been to two of these lunches, I know the quality of the space, the food and wine, and the ambience. It is something extraordinary, in my book. Gather a few of your favourite people and book. Take the day off, go and have a leisurely lunch under the trees, and get the uber ahead of time because the wine will be flowing – and enjoy.

We are blessed in Tshwane to have a handful of excellent chefs and Rachel Botes with her creativity and imagination in full swing (assisted by Lulu de Beer) is one of those.

WHILE SHIMMERING IN GLITTER AND GOLD NATANIËL WILL BE TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

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DIANE DE BEER talks to Nataniël about the few weeks ahead…

After an absence of several years from any Johannesburg theatre stage, Nataniël brings his award-winning show, Prima Donna, to the Teatro at Montecasino for five performances only from August 17 to 20 at 8pm, with a matinee included on the Saturday at 3pm.

And while this is a show which he has performed before, it is a new staging with new stories or old ones updated and even the old songs have new arrangements.

Over  the past few years Nataniël has written and staged more than 13 productions not seen in the Johannesburg area, and extraordinary moments from these shows as well as brand new material has been put together for five unforgettable gala concerts.

And, if you should wonder, naturally the costumes are all new, created by Floris Louw.That’s just who Nataniël is. But he’s nervous. This is a huge theatre, and even if it is similar to the seasons he used to stage annually at Emperors, he was familiar with the audience.

This time he doesn’t know because he hasn’t been in Joburg for some time. But those who know his work, won’t want to wait to buy tickets. His trademark stories will be in English and Afrikaans with songs in English.

(Book at SeatMe).      

In this tale as the title suggests, he is dealing with prima donnas. It’s a touch of fantasy, a dash of humour, some sadness, and as a reality check, a take on history, family, failures, hope  and modern society.

“We all know these drama queens, know how they operate and what they’re capable of. But we indulge them, their behaviour becomes worse and only death can release us,” he warns.

Charl du Plessis Trio will join him on stage for both shows with other musicians in tow. Pictured are Werner Spies (bass), Charl du Plessis (piano) and Peter Auret (drums).

He knows he also has that reputation, but his demands are about performance and what he knows he needs on stage. “I never fight, because I don’t like confrontation,” he says.

Never able to resist raising an eyebrow, he adds that he always believed one of the perks of success was being difficult!

“We hate them so we would rather do without them,” he says. But, in case you start taking all of this seriously, he says he chose the title because it looks good on the poster!

See what an interviewer has to contend with.

Vocalists Dihan Slabbert and Nicolaas Swart

But before you lose patience, he includes one of his elaborate and irresistible descriptions: “If Sarah Bernhardt, Maria Callas and Isadora Duncan had a child, it would resemble my costumes!”

And, he adds, a touch of Florence Foster Jenkins.

His music he describes as a combination of the dramatical and accessible. “I sing many of my own songs and familiar old songs.”

With him on stage is Charl du Plessis who now travels with his own Steinway piano (and that’s a whole other story) Luke van der Merwe (guitar), Marcel Dednam (keyboard), and Werner Spies (bass), as well as Dihan Slabbert, Wiehahn Francke and Nicolaas Swart on vocals.

Having a final word, Nataniël notes that the show is vocally driven. “That’s what a prima donna does!” He’s been waiting for this one for 12 years. “I’m ready for that farewell concert,” he says.

And the force with which he speaks is almost persuasive, but I know about his addiction – performance –  and he’s so good at that!

For those who are looking for something completely different, there’s a second concert of Afrikaans in Styl on September 9 presented at Sun Bet Arena in Times Square.

This time the artists included on the bill are Spoegwolf, Elvis Blue and Corlia.

“I’m the headgirl,” says Nataniël who will be staging the show. “It’s rare that artists are given a free hand to stage their own shows on this kind of platform,” he says, excited by the prospect.

Nataniël and Spoegwolf in a different kind of performance.

And if you’re not familiar with some of the performers, he explains it thus: Spoegwolf brings the war, Corlia brings the notes, Elvis, the smoothness and blues, and he brings the sequins.

The performers will almost exclusively be performing their own songs. “I love that. It’s rare that someone like Corlia who has such a huge voice is allowed to get away without singing Barcelona.”

Perhaps this time. It’s up to each one individually what they wish to perform.

He is also thrilled that this is a once-off. It won’t be filmed. If you’re not there, that’s it.

“The performers are all people who regularly perform in theatres.

“People must come and see. It will be new and not commercially driven. The artists will be adventurous with their performances and the staging will be daring.

“As artists (and audiences) we need to step out of our comfort zones when we go to shows. It’s a time for rebirth and venture.”

He always keeps in touch with what is happening in the rest of the world because it takes a time to reach our shores.

“We’re all ready to try new things!”

And why not.

“This time my brother won’t be hiding backstage. But we might have one or two surprises up our sleeve.”

Book NOW at www.webtickets.co.za

And talking about that, Nataniël also has a new Christmas book in shops in October.

The title is Help, Help, it is beautifully packaged with a special cover for the festive season, and once you’ve seen it, packed with unpublished Afrikaans and English short stories, your Christmas shopping will be done.

And still there’s more: Rome 62 will be staged at Atterbury Theatre later in the year, a new Mis will be performed at Aardklop Aubade in Pretoria and there’s the annual Christmas season also at the Atterbury Theatre.

And even then he’s not done. But we will wait for the final conclusion to his year.

In the meantime,  he’s busy on stage – performing.

ARRESTING PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE WITH ACTOR MPUME MTHOMBENI AND DIRECTOR NEIL COPPEN THE PERFECT TEAM

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DIANE DE BEER reviews:

Mpume Mthombeni as Zenzile Maseko

PICTURES: Val Adamson

Isidlamlilo/The Fire Eater

Presented by The Market Theatre in association with Empatheatre and the National Arts Festival

Workshopped by actor Mpume Mthombeni and director Neil Coppen from an oral history project on migration

Dates: Sunday 30 July at 3pm, 2, 3, 4 August at 7pm and 5 and 6 August at 3 and 7pm

Our first encounter with Zenzile Maseko (Mthombeni) is in her women’s hostel room. She is a grandmother, partially disabled, who has just discovered that Home Affairs declared her dead two years ago. That’s why she hasn’t been receiving her grant, which would enable her to build her dream house in her childhood village, iPharadise.

What might have seemed to those of us looking at a woman, ageing, alone in a room with probably all her worldly possessions, as a small life is given towering proportions as this magnificent Shakespearean monologue starts spilling forth. All of this takes place in the midst of a nightmarish storm, which recalls the recent KwaZulu-Natal floods as well as the stormy life of Zenzile, who is being purged through this devastating, often delirious unfolding of a life of one of millions of similar women in similar circumstances in this country.

Few of us would even handle one of these events that seem to consume her whole being as the disasters roll in and out with regular intervals. Just the word Home Affairs is enough to draw sighs of despair as we think of the rows and rows of people seen in a distance on a monthly basis as they wait to collect their grants, which is often the only lifeline for an extended family.

But Zenzile has courage to fall back on and draw from as her life could not have been more dramatic.

And that’s just the broad strokes.

Yet, more than this epic life story that seems to span many lives, generations and cycles of violence that feel never-ending, is the performance by the magnificent Mthombeni. She transforms Zenzile in a matter of minutes as she draws on all her skills to explore this heart wrenching embodiment of a woman whose life depended on her being a warrior.

And that she is as she rises through each crisis that becomes her life. She simply has to survive. Nothing has been brought on by her own actions or even who she is. It is simply the way people are discarded and ignored as they battle their every daily task.

Few of us have any idea how most of our people live. We think loadshedding is our biggest struggle. For many electricity is but a dream.

Zenzile brings all of that to the light as she creates her own Lear, battling her fraught life as well as the elements. It is an awe-inspiring performance which takes you on an emotional endurance race that’s hugely exciting to witness but also daunting to compute.

Brilliant lighting design by Tina le Roux

Her performance is enhanced by the text and the way she grabs hold of it, workshopped by Coppen and Mthombeni, who never lets up, as well as the staging which is achieved with spectacular lighting that brings a magnificent intensity.

In the publicity it is said that some have referred to this as a modern day South African classic, I can see why. It’s startling yet stunning theatre which explores invisible South African lives and gives one such woman a platform.