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TIME FOR THE ANNUAL WONDERLAND BY JANICE HONEYMAN AND HER TEAM

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By Diane de Beer

JANICE HONEYMAN’S ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Venue: Mandela at the Joburg Theatre

Creative Team:

Director: Janice Honeyman

Associate Director: Tim Le Roux

Musical Director: Dale Ray

Choreographer: Khaya Ndlovu Mpehle

Lighting Designer: Johan Ferreira

Costume Designer: Mariska Meyer

Production Designer and AV Design: Andrew Timm

Assistant Production Designer: Adino Trapani

Set Designer and Builder: Enos Ramoroko

Sound Designer: Akhona Bozo

Principals supported by fantastic ensemble:

Lewis Carroll (Russel Savadier); Alice (Ashley Scott); The White Rabbit (Bongi Archi); Queen of Hearts (Brenda van Rhyn); the Cheshire Cat (Siya Makakane); Caterpillar (Lesedi Rich), Dame (Desmond Dube), Mad Hatter (Charlie Bouguenon); Jack of Hearts (Danny Meaker) and the full ensemble.

It’s no surprise that this year’s pantomime has taken Janice Honeyman’s annual pantomime to new heights. Not only does the title encourage you to let your imagination go, but technology has also made enormous strides in the past decade.

Every year it seems as though everyone involved grows as magnificently as the technical advances allow, without being overwhelmed. After all, everything about the medium and this particular tale encourages you to go wherever your imagination takes you.

And Honeyman and her team are certainly up to that challenge. For those of us who have simply seen too many pantomimes, these advances have been a blessing, turning something that might have become a chore into a fantastical adventure.

What are they going to be doing next? Janice simply never lets go. She has many tricks up her panto sleeve, and as fast as she catches up with what is available on the tech side, it’s on stage and we are the lucky recipients of all the magic that is managed rather than overwhelmed.

This year it’s all about colour, and it’s there in the fullest, brightest blaze and simply impossible to resist. (A pesky male sitting on my right kept taking pictures and slurping through his drink, trying his best to distract me, but fortunately to no avail!)

Everyone else was on their best behaviour and fully immersed in the brilliant bounty on stage. And as always, Honeyman’s secret weapon, even with all the dazzle in the world, is her cast. She knows how to pick them and turn out performances of solid gold with a script that she has honed over the decades. It takes a fast ear and a clear mind to catch all the one-liners, the sassy sarcasm, and the delightful chirps between the different characters throughout.

It all starts with Alice, the young girl (pictured in blue) who has to establish and navigate her own wonderland. The bonus (for me) was not to be familiar with Ashley Scott’s pervious work, even though she has quite a resumé, but someone had whispered to me that she was something special – and I agree. She commands the stage effortlessly. Her ease is possibly the result of her accomplishments as an actor, singer and dancer, the much-desired triple threat. This is obviously where she belongs and shines.

As the Queen of Hearts, Brenda van Rhyn’s undeniable stature and style would have been ample but there’s also the explosive confidence of someone who easily owns the stage. It’s marvellous to see how this performer demands the attention which is well deserved. Her presence is unavoidable which fortunately becomes this queen.

But there’s more to a show than a single performer, and probably everyone will have their favourites. For me, it was Lesedi Rich (pictured left) with the most exquisite voice. As the caterpillar, he stole my heart. His voice was my clarion call, simply mesmerizing.

And how could one not fall in love with Desmond Dube’s (centre) every performance? He works the room with that million-rand smile of his even before he says a word.

I can also add the names of Russel Savadier as the much revered author Lewis Carroll and Charlie Bouguenon as the eccentric Mad Hatter. Everyone on that stage fits their chosen part and adds to what is easily a perfect panto, but then they usually are.

Janice and her team do it every year. Just when I think I have seen it all, she delivers yet another explosive firecracker of a panto. She showed us at the beginning of her career that she is the eternal child in an adult body, and all these decades of one panto after another, each with its own va-va-voom, prove her right.

THE RICHARD FAMILY AFFAIR ADDS LUSTRE TO THE ALREADY CELEBRATED TUESDAY WITH MORRIE

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REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER

PICTURES BY PHILIP KUHN

It’s almost 16 years since director Alan Swerdlow first staged the heartwarming Tuesdays with Morrie (published in 1997) with Graham Hopkins and Asher Stoltz starring in the popular two-hander, also at this theatre.

He has again hit gold with his casting of father and son Michael Richard and Jeremy Richard.

He already had a winning formula with a beautifully written text that opens with a mentor and his student shooting the breeze and promising at the graduation of the young charge, to keep in touch.

A few decades on, the younger man has landed on his feet and is fully engaged in his career when he re-discovers his ageing, forgotten friend who is dying. And this is where the story settles and soars in an exchange of valuable life lessons.

It might sound trite or simply too obvious, but the author is clever. He keeps the banter smart and the pace steady.

With the two Richard men, as I thought it would, the play gains in energy and an authentic  familiarity. They aimed straight for the heart in this one as father and son match each other in temperament and performance. Being family, they could immediately adopt their characters.

What a thrill to see the older Richard grab onto Morrie’s time of life with such gusto as the younger man grows in empathy while listening and experiencing some harsh life lessons.

He had let go of Morrie’s wisdom in his youthful enthusiasm to carve a career and returned at a time when he was ready not only to listen but also to engage.

It’s a play of seasons, as one character grows old and the other gains knowledge by witnessing the process. It’s there in everyone’s life, whether from the young or older side. The experience obviously changes, but as Morrie shows, as tough as it might get, it’s how you approach and live your life that matters.

As their ages also determine their experience, Michael has tackled Morrie’s deteriorating health with remarkable skill and balance. There’s no softening of the process but the risk also lies in getting the balance just right. It’s so easy to let go and to lose the humanity of this kind of character. It’s a performance of great maturity.

It’s a delight to witness Jeremy’s ease and confidence in a role that is trickier than it seems. Keeping his character authentic was his challenge, and he met this with the full-blooded transformation of a young man who suddenly finds himself out of his depth yet understands the gravity of the circumstances, not only for his mentor but also for his own future.

It’s a lovely play when we’re all rushed to get everything done before the year runs out. We all need to slow down, but there’s no time for that.

Tuesdays with Morrie reminds us to make time for the important relationships which enrich our time, and with the set design by Wilhelm Disbergen also enhancing the story of a life worn but well lived, the Richard duo lean into the tale with a thread spanning toughness and tenderness that turns this into a tale that warms the heart.

Kudos to impresario Daphne Kuhn, director Alan Swerdlow and the Richard father and son.

Tuesdays with Morrie runs until November 22

FIERY AND FEROCIOUS EVITA WALLOWS IN WHO WE WERE AND HOW WE HAVE HIT THE SWEET SPOT

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REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER

PICTURES BY IHSAAN HAFFEJEE

What a smart move by the artistic director of the Market Theatre Foundation, Greg Homann, to invite Pieter-Dirk Uys (PDU), or, to be exact, his alter-ego, Evita Bezuidenhout, to open their first-ever Queer Festival running from 21 to 25 October.

This new initiative brought together a mix of nine performances across cabaret, drama, live concert, dance and new writing.

“With this inaugural iteration, we enter a bold new chapter, promising a vibrant celebration of identity, resistance and radical joy,” he said. “The Market Theatre has always thrived on being home to the South African story across all backgrounds and experiences. With this festival, we once again make a statement of safe belonging and free expression.”

And the main stage was opened by PDU to a packed audience in the iconic Market Theatre. “It was 35 years since the conception of the much-loved Evita in 1981 at this same venue – when even drag was outlawed – which reminds us how far we’ve come, and still have to go,” Homann said.

Celebrating with Evita @ 91, the decade younger PDU reminded his audience how blessed we are – over and over again. In the past, he’s often gone for the jugular, but he is also quick to praise, emphasizing how much our lives have been affected in a positive way.

After all, for those who followed him from the beginning, we’re aware of the tightrope this Afrikaner boy had to tread as he pulled away from his heritage pointing much more than fingers at the way his elders were running the country.

As usual, Evita@91 has no qualms about speaking her mind. She reminded us time and again where we came from and where we are now, just to put everything into perspective and to remind us to remember the past before jumping to criticise.

She’s as fiery and ferocious with her feminine tongue, and even as she softens her attack with some sassy sweet-talk, there’s no fooling anyone when she decides to speak her mind.

Candour has always been her approach and she’s the Afrikaans woman who never treads lightly and has everyone in stitches as she opens her mouth. If you had any doubt that we are a diverse country who have reached that sweet spot where we can all laugh at ourselves, this was it.

It was a celebratory night of merriment and nostalgia as we could all bask in the 50-year mark The Market had reached and on stage and in the auditorium, it was all visibly displayed.

At 81, PDU is 10 years younger than his colourful alter-ego but neither was holding back. It’s good to see how comfortable this iconic satirist is in his skin and on stage.  She/he might reach for a name or two, but that’s the only concession to age visible. A performer who always delivers, never lets you down, force-feeds some harsh truths but never without the sardonic twist which has you smiling at the way he mirrors our foibles.

In a world where conversation has become problematic and truth is what the speaker decides to spin, it is heartwarming to gather with your country’s people and wallow in who we were, where we came from and how pretty we are sitting in today’s global turmoil.

And fitting that, in conclusion, PDU stripped away all the finery of his finest invention and took his final bows as the artist who knew what to do and how to pull it off when the state was his biggest foe.

He is the one who is still having the last laugh.

Interview: BETWEEN MYTH AND MAYHEM

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THEATRE

By Diane de Beer
Pictures: Nardus Engelbrecht

Pay attention when internationally acclaimed director/author/designer Brett Bailey turns up at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees with two productions, The Stranger and FaustX. As one of South Africa’s most innovative directors and someone who pays attention to place and time, he was questioned by Diane de Beer about his choices.

With today’s easy access to almost anyone, interviews can sometimes become more enjoyable for the interviewer than for the artist being interviewed. But when your subject is Brett Bailey – racing between shows, juggling productions and somehow keeping it all together – you’re grateful for thoughtfully considered written answers that offer a glimpse into what he is trying to pull off. And, judging by his track record, probably will.

Starting with The Stranger, he came across the myth of Orpheus, the semi-divine poet-musician of Classical Greece whose “melodious music brings harmony to the natural world: olive trees inch towards him as he plays, fishes leave the streams to listen, birds and animals gather around him”.

“I was captivated by this image of a man singing in the wilderness, both bringing order to the world with his art, and revealing an underlying order in the cosmos,” he begins. “Then he goes even further by voyaging to the Underworld, where all the order is shown to be meaningless.”

For Brett, this is a myth that captures the beautiful fragility of life, of violence and of life’s ephemerality. The story haunted him for two decades, inspired him and pulled him in so many directions, throwing up so many images and confronting him with questions.

As a result, “in 2006 I created an outdoor promenade piece based on it called Orfeus, and another version a few years later which toured the EU. This is the third version, first performed at the National Arts Festival in 2024. Of all my works, The Stranger is the most meaningful to me.”

About the style of the production, he notes that ritualistic staging is something he has returned to periodically since his earlier days in the mid-1990s. “I find it particularly apt for works based in mythological content, where different realities intersect: the material and the dream worlds, the realms of people and gods.” 

This is a story of our time, of an immigrant who arrives in Stellenbosch bringing a gift of exquisite music that transforms all who hear it. And immediately there’s a connection for the audience. Three musicians accompany him, and a number of performers enact the drama, including the woman he falls in love with as well as Death.

Attending The Stranger, he advises, is like entering a ceremony in which a story is told in some remote village, or, even more enticingly, like entering someone else’s dream. How can one not accept that invitation?

The cast includes Nkosenathi Koela and others, and this is the second time this musician, who believes in the transformational power of African indigenous music, will be featured in this production, the first in 2024. “His music is truly deep and extraordinary,” explains Brett. “He was the natural choice for the role of Orpheus.”

They will be performing in what Brett describes as a gorgeous building almost ten minutes out of Stellenbosch, Die Boekklub.

“It is an old apple shed converted into a remarkable venue filled with antiques. Very special. The audience will lounge on vintage sofas on two sides of an intimate performance arena: an immersive sonic environment lit by candles and chandeliers.”

And he is delighted to report that audiences find the work very beautiful and moving.

No less exciting or challenging, FaustX was commissioned by Kunstfest Weimar in 2025 for the 250th anniversary of Goethe’s move to that city. “I was not aware then that there was a second part to Faust. It is a monster of a text, incredibly complex and full of poetic, philosophical, historical and mythological allusions: a full dramatisation would take over five hours,” the master reports.

“When I first encountered it, I had no idea what to do with it. Gradually, over a year, I cut it right down to around 90 minutes. It tells of a man who, in his drive to find meaning, opts for all possibilities of extreme experience in exchange for his soul.

“On my journey to find its contemporary relevance, I gravitated towards the tech barons who are currently steering our planet on a rapid course into the unknown, who are sacrificing the soul of the earth to Progress. Mr Musk, with all his glitches and complexities, became my primary focus…

“The work speaks of modern humanity’s insatiable drive to satisfy the self, to push beyond boundaries and limitations, to experience as much as possible, no matter what the cost. In our technologically rapacious era, the dangers of such an orientation resonate deeply. In a sense, it is a terrifying piece of theatre…

I’m a visual person, and my taste is very eclectic.

“Thematically I deal with European manipulation of African economies, the war in Gaza, Israeli settler occupation of the West Bank, Elon Musk’s fever dreams of technological domination and the colonisation of distant planets, the destruction of the planet’s ecosystem by out-of-control capitalism, and the rise of the far right in Europe.”

And if that doesn’t get you rushing out for tickets, it obviously is not your kind of theatre.

But that’s not the only thing that drives this piece. Who would not be intrigued by the fact that ChatGPT takes the honours as “dramaturg” in the festival guide?

Not unexpectedly, Brett would be one of the first to get the best from any new technology, even though he acknowledges the anxiety around the use of AI in the creative industries. “Many people feel threatened by it.”

But for this interrogating artist, it became yet another arrow in his quiver. He used it to bounce off ideas for several of his works and thus it has a thorough “sense of the network of threads that permeate my artistic vision”.

He insists that it doesn’t write his texts, yet it opens up avenues of exploration and helps him to make connections. Making his point twice over, he says: “In a work that looks at the dangers of technology run rampant, it feels conceptually appropriate to acknowledge ChatGPT as my dramaturg…”

And in short, Brett adds a lesson in AI for those interested.

Taking a closer look at FaustX, he views the work both as a visual artwork and a piece of theatre. “I’m a visual person, and my taste is very eclectic.”

Inspiration for FaustX comes from so many sources: Central African wood carvings and paintings, Japanese and East European films, Instagram, Tibetan Buddhist shrines, the colour palette of Mediterranean gardens, news channels and social media, rural European mask traditions, medieval Christian paintings, the work clothes of local farm labourers… it’s all in there, as in so many of his earlier works.

FaustX talks of the hubris of men who destroy anything in their path to satisfy their relentless need for more; The Stranger speaks of those who step in to attempt to heal what has been destroyed.

As he notes himself, Brett has worked with masks on and off for years, and now they feature prominently in the works he makes. “I love the sense of otherworldliness they bring to the stage, and the effect that they have on performers’ bodies. Using them allows several performers to play one character: four different performers play Faust, each bringing their own skill set to the role. I make the masks from cardboard and glue and paint: I love the rough, handmade quality.”

FaustX, he says, is also saturated from beginning to end in deeply beautiful music – from works by Handel, Purcell and Mozart, to modern composers like Arvo Pärt and Biosphere.

He views the two works as companion pieces, two panels of a diptych, each painted in a different style.

“FaustX talks of the hubris of men who destroy anything in their path to satisfy their relentless need for more; The Stranger speaks of those who step in to attempt to heal what has been destroyed. Both face their mortality in the face of an inscrutable and indifferent universe…”

For those who will not be visiting Woordfees, let’s all hold thumbs that these two works travel widely throughout the country. 

The Stranger
9, 10 & 11 OCT 19:30
Die Boekklub, Johannesdal
R180 | R210 at the door

FaustX
Unfortunately we will have to wait for another showing PLEASE BRETT!

PASSION IS IN ABUNDANCE FOR THE CREATIVE JO STEENKAMP, BOTH AT WORK AND AT PLAY

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My favourite psychologist, JO Steenkamp, is playing in a different medium and yet, like his focus on spontaneous healing and internal transformation, which he has developed into his own modality, SHIP (Spontaneous Healing Intrasystemic Process), his art and more specifically sculpture follow the same principles of spontaneity. He talks to DIANE DE BEER about his longtime yet recently rekindled fascination with sculpture, which has resulted in an exhibition titled Shape-Shifters: The voice behind the veil, which will be held at Pretoria’s Pierneef’s Kraal from May 7 to June 7:

From an early age, JO Steenkamp knew what he wanted to do. Even though he didn’t have any artistic influences in his youth, he started sculpting at the age of 16. But when life decisions had to be made, he realized that his interest was psychology – and not simply the true and tested path of the time; he was intrigued by spontaneous healing, something he developed through his doctoral work and which he turned into what today would best be understood as Steenkamp brand.

Once he had decided on his future, he was determined to pursue his dream. Because the number of places had already been allocated for the Honours course, he wasn’t accepted. He was persistent and kept turning up at the head of department’s office until the accepted number was moved from 30 to 31.

His art followed a similar obstinacy once he decided to explore his 16-year-old dream. His son (also a clinical psychologist) was moving out of the house, which meant JO could use the rooms which were now unoccupied.

He phoned someone close by who he knew had clay, and when she said, “Come over and let’s have a cup of coffee,” his response was quick: “You don’t understand, I need the clay N0W!”

He already knew the process he wanted to follow. He simply reached back to his youth.  “It happens by itself,” explains JO. “I follow the lines and then comes the magic. I am not doing it for anything else but the connectedness,” says the disciple of spontaneity.

Reproductions don’t feature in his creativity, and because his spirit is driven in a very particular way, he doesn’t do requests either. Once he has a piece of clay in front of him, anything can happen. When someone asked him to sculpt a water nymph for them because apparently there’s one in every French river, he said the best he could do was to think about one when he was sculpting.

His process has to be spontaneous and he simply taps into consciousness. “It’s a knowledge that’s there,” he says. “It’s exactly like my psychology works. You’re tapping into something that already exists and you’re simply the vehicle. It’s a knowing.”

When it comes to the titles of his work and especially a special descriptive poem that accompanies each individual sculpture, it’s as if it taps into the consciousness of the viewer. It’s almost as if it opens something, he explains;

Even the way he decided on the use of bronze for the final sculpture. It is the ancient quality that caught his eye and he knew, it was the only way.

The title of the exhibition, Shapeshifter: the voice behind the veil, he describes as a celebration of something that was created.

When JO starts talking about the meaning of the process and the work, his passionate descriptions are hard to resist. Sculpting for him is an exploration of himself. He is constantly in conversation and, once that has been concluded, it is something he wants to share. “Something magical, mystical and fabulous,” he adds.

Listening to him talk takes me back a few decades to when I was one of his patients. I had been to many psychologists before him, but none of them could speak in a language that I understood. When JO first explained his method of spontaneous healing, I knew I had finally found someone who could show me the way.

And he did. But that is also why it is so fascinating to see his art and to hear him speaking about his creativity – all these years later. To my mind, his art is simply an extension of his psychological methodology. He takes the clay and allows the process to unfold spontaneously. It all makes perfect sense as his spontaneous flair is constantly nurtured, the one flowing into the other, forming a perfect circle.

THE VISION, THE MENU AND THE GUIDANCE OF DOOLSHE IS ALL LIENTJIE WESSELS

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Doolshe Restaurant and Winebar is a new venue out of town, between Joburg and Pretoria, with food genius Lientjie Denton in charge of the menues. DIANE DE BEER was keen to check this latest venture:

Chef/artist/fashion activist Lientjie Denton is a woman who lives life to the full. Meeting her a few decades ago when she opened her first interior shop, Lemon Lounge, in the always-sassy Brooklyn Mall, I knew this woman had exceptional style. That feeling has exploded over the years.

She always seems to make the right move at the right time, usually driven by personal passion and when life runs ahead, she finds a new pad for one of her passions and gets down and dirty.

It was at Lemon Lounge that I first lost my heart to this larger-than-life woman. She knows what she likes, and you knew immediately whether it was your kind of place.

After the shop, which moved and changed over the years, she spent a stint as a magazine journalist focusing especially on arty interiors, and then she opened a restaurant in Cullinan, which has had quite a few revivals and changes. Mainly it’s about moving about. She started in one of those classic mining houses so much a  part of the Cullinan charm, but then decided to be less permanent, left the regular premises and moved her food events around.

A few years ago, her yearning for change reared its head again. Lientjie and her partner Marius discovered the Karoo and, more specifically, Richmond, which is fast becoming a foodie destination and so much more.

So it is all about moving between these two different landscapes, each with its own challenges.

Last week the two of us went on a particular journey where food was the passion that would feature – to my delight. I have always loved her food and as she is constantly experimentingand dreaming about new combinations and flavours (her cookbook is titled Geure (Flavours), I’m always excited to see where and how her cuisine will manifest.

With her latest venture, she is behind the scenes, not necessarily even on the premises, but the vision, the menu and guidance is all Lientjie. The address,  when you Google is K40  on the 512 (Pelindaba Road) opposite the Lion & Safari Park, Broederstroom. From either Pretoria or Joburg it should take less than an hour – and it’s an easy drive.

She was contacted by two friends, who own the property and wanted her to design the menu and get the venue up and running. She quickly got hold of another- old friend, Mart Gresse, who she knew was perfect to run front-of-house, and three young chefs were appointed to do justice to the menu. For Lientjie, it is an ideal setup as these three young graduates are eager to learn.

The menu is seasonal, and even the one we sampled, will already be changed when this goes to print. But, taste rules. While the menu has Italian influences,  she steers clear of any staple items and when there are any, she adds her own interpretation and twists. Currently, she loves playing with fermented flavours, which introduces a strong contemporary slant – something she has always introduced to her menus.

It’s also what intrigues her followers, who don’t want the tried-and-tested but prefer to discover new tastes and ways to experience what could have been familiar recipes.

She describes her food as plant-forward, but world cuisine is the term she feels captures it best. Yet, she adds, and this is important, it is food from here. That’s truly what she does brilliantly. She is her own person, and her food reflects this.

Spending a day in her company also highlights her obsession with food. There’s not a moment that she doesn’t think of something she saw which reminds her of something else and voila, it results in a new recipe. “I make food in my head,” she says. And that’s true, it’s how she travels through her days.

Raisin pickle and Karoo dolmades made with venison are mentioned … and her mind races  off.

The current menu starts with a Doolshe farmhouse breakfast (herby pork sausage, bacon, eggs, fried tomato with parmesan granola, apricot chutney toast and white Miso butter) at R165; smoked trout and scrambled eggs with sour cream chives and dill (R190) or if you want something different ricotta flapjacks, homemade berry compote and whipped cream (R120).

Salads include different varieties, familiar and yet, there’s always a twist. You could share one at the table with a main or have it as a meal. The beef fillet strip and fried caper panzanella with crunchy vegetables and a balsamic dressing is perfect for a hot day.

You also have the option of sandwiches (pastrami with fennel pickle or roast chicken with parmesan granola, and,herb pesto with vegetable chips, all finger-licking good) or perhaps two starters (a sour cream and onion tortilla with white bean paté, parmesan and boerewors with a bite of chilli crumbs and short rib croquettes and blueberry chutney).

Lamb skewers with olive salsa verde and fresh sardine rillettes bruschetta with fennel also caught my fancy.

Mains include from smoked snoek gratin and apricot chutney (R220), pork neck and apple on creamy parmesan mash (R250,) chicken feta and parmesan roulade in saffron, honey and hazelnut sauce served with cous-cous (R250), or lamb chops with Za’atar, roast vegetables, cous-cous and rose harissa yogurt (R310) and a more manageable mushroom and cognac pasta with parmesan. And I need to read no further than the brown-butter spiced blondie and double chocolate ice-cream, priced between R80 and R125, to conclude on a sweet note.

It’s an unusually expansive venue with many different options. You could start with a Sunday morning hike and have a late brunch; you could come for a sunset and cocktails lookabout; or you could have a dinner-a-deux on the verandah on a moonlit night. It’s about the surroundings, the interiors and the ambience, take your pick.

Her new menu is ready to go and includes many new versions in her inimitable style. Sandwiches include for example beef fillet, Japanese barbeque and chlli mayo or a herb and garlic chicken breasts and lemon, black pepper mayo, parmesan and basil sandwich. On the salad platter, there’s the choice of a fragrant chicken and veg salad with a lime, coconut and chilli dressing or a Mediterranean lentil, chickpea, olive And artichoke salad with lemon and garlic mayo.

Mains include bobotie meatballs with brown basmati rice and traditional chutney or an artichoke and spinach  with tomato pesto gnocchi or if fish is your particular favourite brown butter and soy salmon, creamy mash and green beans and fermented carrots.

The name Doolshe already transports you to a different world. Pronounced dool-she, it is a loanword from Italian, meaning sweet. Italy colonized East and North Africa from the late 19th century into the middle of the last one. During that period, locals borrowed words from their colonisers and adopted them with their own pronunciation – hence Doolshe. And this particular abode with its verandah-styled dining spaces as windows are flung open wide allowing the inside out or closed in chillier times for a more cosy space, certainly embraces its name.

There’s nothing more apt for the ambience, the people, the drink and the food. It’s the sweetest.

Times: Thursdays and Fridays, lunch and dinner; Saturdaya breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Sundays breakfast and lunch.

AUTHOR GERDA TALJAARD CAPTURES REALITY IN HER MESMERISING FAIRYTALE DIE GRAFDIGTER

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In her latest book, Die Grafdigter (Tomb poet), author Gerda Taljaard plays imaginatively with language and story and it is the unusual title that gets your  mind racing. DIANE DE BEER speaks to the author about this remarkable novel:

Author Gerda Taljaard with her dog Iggy Pop.

It is the fairytale quality of the story meshed with a realism that keeps you questioning from beginning to end. That, as well as the double destination of motherlands with Russia and South Africa as the main focus, hooks you from the start.

I’m writing about Pretoria author Gerda Taljaard’s latest book Die Grafdigter, which has those in the know in the Afrikaans literature world talking.

She writes, she says, for the same reason she reads: to escape harsh reality. With this one, she wanted to explore a completely different universe from her own. And what she picked was the world of Chekhov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky with snow-covered landscapes, lakes and forests.

She remembers an uncle who could tune in to Radio Moscow during the apartheid years, a time when Russia and its people were referred to as the rooi gevaar. “I think he and my father were keen to find out what was behind the Iron Curtain,” she says.

During one of these radio adventures, she heard a most evocative piece of music, which she tracked down many years later. “It is an original Ukrainian song titled Ukrainian Poem written by O. Kolichev and performed by the orchestra of the Russian army. “It immediately captured my imagination,” she explains. “I could see the steppe, mountains and frozen lakes in my mind’s eye. That was the original spark!”

She also points to a time when she was very young and had to share a bedroom with her grandmother for six months. “Naturally against my will,” she hastily adds.

It was only much later that she realized what an impact it had and how richly she was rewarded by a woman who had a wonderful way with rhymes and riddles as well as macabre fairytales like the Baba Jaga stories.

“With her facial expressions and voice maneuvers she conjured up a magical world for me. These included tales from the subconscious, emotional, irrational and primitive streams of thought. It means you could capture people’s deepest fears and desires in an authentic way.

“Jung said it best when noting that myths show life more accurately than the sciences can.”

And then there’s another plus, Taljaard’s language. As a South African who speaks Afrikaans but writes in English, I was mesmerized. It’s the flow of the story being told in a language that’s familiar and accessible, yet completely novel. “Afrikaans is part of my being,” is how she explains the astonishing use of her home language. “It’s the language that formed me and in which I am driven to write.”

She loves buying old dictionaries in which she finds many unfamiliar Afrikaans words. “I am astonished by how many words I discover and how many simply disappear from our vocabulary. And these are exactly the words I need to give new life,” she says.

“Afrikaans, like Zulu, is a very poetic language, which is the aspect I want to elevate to aesthetically tell my stories.” And she does this with great gusto and success, resulting in an extraordinarily pleasurable reading experience. I had huge fun discovering all these novel words and phrases I had never heard before.

As far as the choice of countries in this tale, it is the many points of contact between Russia and South Africa which first caught her attention: the oppression of the majority by a privileged minority; the isolation by the rest of the world, followed by freedom and reform and the hope of a democracy; the disappointment caused by corruption; the stop and start between progress and decay; equality and inequality … and there’s more.

Because she uses a child to tell much of the story, the balance between reality and imagination is blurred, which adds to the glorious fairy-tale quality and also keeps the reader off balance throughout. It feels as though there is a constant battle between good and evil, which again locks strongly into the reality of what is happening internationally today.

She introduces two thoughts which illustrate what she is hoping to achieve with this wondrous book:

We should show life neither as it is, nor as it should be, but as we see it in our dreams. ― Anton Chekhov, The Seagull

While you are living, part of you has slipped away to the cemetery. ― Elizabeth Hardwick, Sleepless Nights

And then, of course, the title, Die Grafdigter (The Grave Poet) which immediately propels you into a far-away landscape.

Roughly translated, this is how it starts:

It is the beginning of an endless winter. A grandmother and her granddaughter find themselves in the heart of a forest.

They are desperately looking for food when they spot a reindeer. The grandmother, or Baboesja as her young charge Mila calls her, tells her that you should look a deer in the eye. If you then cannot find the courage to shoot it, you aren’t hungry enough.

These are life lessons for the young girl who will have to fend for herself someday. But her elder is so thorough that Milla’s world is filled with a richness that never absconds.

Nothing simply happens; it is as though you are there. For example, the twilight drapes itself across the house, grows like an ink smudge over the kitchen and sleeping quarters and stretches beyond the sideboard on which Baboesja places the reindeer’s head.

It is detailed yet subtle, never overwhelming – to find that balance with such rich language is a feat. It could so easily lapse into writing that is more about the language than the story and that is the quickest way to antagonize readers.

That’s what I found so astonishing and why this is a book that will be read again and again as the story keeps unfolding with rich meaning.

She doesn’t simply write that it rains; rather, the wind hurls sleet against the windows and without saying it directly, the names of the two characters, the ferocity of the storm, and the reindeer, all point to the place this story is set.

It’s sassy and smart, seemingly without much thought as it sweeps you along in an icy cold wilderness where a young girl is being fiercely protected by a cantankerous older woman, raised in a manner that is determined not to hide the harshness that might be waiting in her future.

And yet, because of the fairytale-enhanced dreamworld that constantly appears, the writing also evokes a visual quality that magnificently illustrates these characters we are accompanying and getting to know.

Taljaard is someone who has developed a unique voice that matches her storytelling qualities. I thoroughly enjoyed her last book Vier Susters, because I am one of three sisters and there was much to identify with.

This one knocked me sideways because it was so original and yet so relevant in a world where war is raging all around us and threatening a life’s order we have become accustomed to navigating.

It’s as though she not only read the zeitgeist smartly but also latched onto a future which feels more frightening every day.

FOR AUTHOR MARITA VAN DER VYVER AND HER HUSBAND ALAIN, HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

~ debeernecessities

Author Marita van der Vyver who has been living in France for most of her adult life recently returned to her home country to promote her latest book My Jaar van Vrees en Vryheid (My Year of Fear and Freedom), and hopefully the Afrikaans version will be translated soon. DIANE DE BEER interviewed her with a live audience:

Marita van der Vyver, Picture: Jaco Marais.

“I think if you lose your language, it’s because you want to lose it,” says Marita in response to my remarking on her excellent Afrikaans after so many years spent living in France. “Your language will always be part of you,” she admonishes.

And that’s the thing about this author, she’s been around and done many of these travelling book tours, which though a welcome financial opportunity, can probably be exhausting. Having done many of these as the enquiring journalist, my empathy always remains with the authors, but I also enjoy these conversations because they’re usually keen to promote their writing.

I was delighted when I realized the book I was sent by the publishers was a memoir rather than fiction. Either would have been fine, but I was looking forward to reading about her travels.

When she and husband Alain decided to embark on this extraordinary journey, many things were in play. “I didn’t know whether the marriage would still be intact following this adventure,” she admitted.

And at the start of their expedition, a book wasn’t on her mind. As a writer she always takes notes and to generate an income she wrote for Litnet, Daily Maverick, Sarie as well as Vrye Weekblad, which was still publishing at the time of the journey.

She never stopped capturing moments along the route. Back home there was a sigh of relief because the marriage had stood the test; in fact, their relationship was stronger than before.

That was what turned her head to a book. In the first chapter she explains the reasons for the journey, which was the result of the confluence of many incidents. Writers, she tells us, always live things twice. “You live it in the moment, but then you’re always standing back and observing, living it a second time when you write about the experience. Only then do you know what you truly felt about it.”

“Once I was writing, I could really understand what I had experienced,” she explains. She admits to being very honest and once you read the book, you will understand and agree.

Initially she was going to write a travelogue, but regular first readers (honest friends), encouraged her to delve more deeply into their lives. This wasn’t an easy time and without her husband’s permission, she would never have drawn back the curtains so sharply, revealing much more than many would care to share.

This is also what makes this such a fascinating read. Wherever you are in your life’s journey, relationships play out in many different ways, but there are always incidents that will remind readers of their own lives. That and because Alain wasn’t only a willing participant but also the comic relief (“he’s funny naturally,” says his wife).

Travelling, as we all know, can be huge fun, but it’s also hard work and often extremely trying to make your way in foreign lands.

When writing, Marita is always very protective of her family. Yet writing a memoir depends on the author opening up, making themselves vulnerable. But her husband easily agreed and their relationship and togetherness contribute warmly to the enjoyment of their journey.

Yet, it also meant that she had to share the details about her husband’s depression and addiction. During Covid, as for so many freelancers, her income evaporated. Being an Afrikaans writer who is trying to make a living in Europe includes many different jobs. She has to do functions, writing schools, talks to various groups and more. All of this was impossible due to the pandemic.

Together with the reappearance of Alain’s depression, her world collapsed. Depression and addiction often go hand in hand, but both of these had been under control, until it wasn’t. “There were none of the usual aids, including psychologists or AA meetings, everything was cancelled. His regular psychiatrist had to turn to the physical needs of those struggling rather than mental health issues.”

Suddenly their needs changed drastically, and she thought of something written by James Baldwin in Giovanni’s Room: “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”

That and the way the couple adapted to their year-long journey is what is so deftly and delightfully sketched by Marita, who made all the right decisions to turn this into so much more than simply traveling from one country to the next, and from one continent to another.

Isn’t that just the dream of many people? And yet it always sounds more romantic and achievable than it is. But here Marita and her Frenchman show how it can be done, even with all the odds against you.

And perhaps even more than the travels – and I truly enjoyed and relished every little byway and highway – it’s about two individuals who might be at the end of their time together, trying to give it one more chance.

Who can resist? Marita is a writer who knows how to tell stories and with this one she instinctively realized what had to be done. The fact that Alain agreed to everything tells me much more about their marriage than any book could. How could they not survive?

Because of the originality of the book, I am hoping and holding thumbs that it will be translated for a much wider audience. Not only will it inform you about the way to approach something of this magnitude, but it also proves when two people are meant to be together, their happiness has a much bigger chance of survival.

And what could be a better panacea than going off on a madcap adventure crisscrossing the world. After all, as one of her other favourite quotes by the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz remind us: “Home is not where you are born, home is where all your attempts to escape cease.”

So lets keep moving …

INDIVIDUALLY AND AS AN ENSEMBLE THE CATS PERFORMERS PURRED PERFECTLY

~ debeernecessities

By Diane de Beer

CATS

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot

Associate Director and Choreographer: CHRISSIE CARTWRIGHT

Musical Supervisor: PETER MCCARTHY

Assistant Choreographer and Director: MATT KRZAN

Musical Director: LOUIS ZURNAMER

Resident Director: DUANE ALEXANDER

Sound Designer: DAVID GREASELY

Lighting Designer: HOWARD EATON

Cast: A MARVELLOUS ENSEMBLE OF 20 PLUS PERFORMERS with a FANTASTIC BAND OF MUSICIANS led by LOUIS ZURNAMER

It’s pretty much a flawless production, this latest version of CATS, which has been staged 25 years after the first production was showcased locally.

How far we’ve come and how much we’ve seen and yet, this remains one of the best musicals staged locally with much of the praise due to a fantastic cast and production team including the musicians.

In a production of this size, it takes the very best to pull it off and that’s exactly what we have here. When looking through the cast list I was surprised that I didn’t recognize too many familiar names and yet the full ensemble was phenomenal with not a weak link to be seen.

I’m not going to single out any names because they simply all shone from start to finish and this is not an easy show to pull off. Not a paw or a whisker out of place. And the magnificent, choreographed movement and music sung to perfection made you part of this feline gang revitalizing and reimagining their lives.

Further enhancing the production is the dazzling lighting, which in turn enhances solo performances, spotlights sudden appearance or embraces the production full on.

But the clutter of classy cats are the centre of the attention and this clever musical based on TS Eliot’s poems adds innovative flair to this most unusual musical performed by cats.

That is what makes it so intriguing and mesmerizing and as this production pulls you in, it’s easy to see how hard these performers have worked to get this one right. It’s not an easy ask but they have met the challenge full on and we, the audience, are the winners.

I can hardly remember the production all that time ago but I do know that this is perfectly staged, with a cast that leaves you breathless. As someone remarked, they have been rehearsed to an inch of their lives.

It does, however, take that kind of performance to make this work. If we don’t get swept away by the performances and the music, it simply won’t work.

It is a young cast but one that has mastered the skill of presenting a show that never flags for a second. From the first furry paw and big back-stretching arch, we’re right there in the junkyard where this scrappy yet classy coterie entertains us with their memories and magical mysteries.

Pieter Toerien has long been the puppet master of local musical standards with shows that equal the best in the world. This one does his own high expectations proud.

Don’t miss seeing this breathtaking cast give a dazzling display of how to manage one of the toughest theatrical endeavours with ease. And as much as you admire the ensemble that makes it happen, it is also that the production team have encouraged each individual performance to be a standout.

It’s a musical put together of many magical moments with each individual performer creating their own gold standard. It starts with brilliant casting, young performers who achieve magnificence and breathe life into every move their feline characters make and a production team who reached for the stars.

With these performers grabbing the opportunity to show their best, it also looks towards the future of local musical theatre.

Here’s to the next 25 years!

LANIE VAN REENEN KEEPS TELLING HER OWN LIFE STORY IN A WAY THAT REMINDS US OF LIFE EVOLVING WITH ALL ITS SPLENDOUR AND HEARTACHE

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One of the joys of reading is to discover a writer who appeals to your sensibility and who has you reaching back to discover her whole catalogue. DIANE DE BEER was delighted to find (for a second time in one instance) the books of author Lanie van Reenen who shares her life in all its ups and downs quite gloriously:

When I was first handed Lanie van Reenen’s latest novel with the unusual title Vandagsedag (translated as Today’s Day), something sounded familiar but I wasn’t sure.

I was asked to have a chat with her with an audience in attendance, so I was keen to explore her third book. She’s adamant that she doesn’t do fiction; she tried, and (she believes) failed miserably.

But her unusual life, not strictly planned, was what first started her writing. She kept notes on her life to make sense of what was happening, which started with the disintegration of her marriage – unexpectedly.

To help her get through this painful experience, she wrote her first book, C’est La Vie, which told the story of her French sojourn, dominated by a castle turned into a guest house, which turned into a disastrous enterprise because of the worldwide financial crash, amongst other things.

This was when she discovered the strength of putting her thoughts on paper, which then turned into a book. “I don’t write what I write with the intention of publishing,” she notes. She insists she isn’t a writer. When she simply writes to deal with her tumultuous feelings, she finds it healing. If she should sit down and do it intentionally for a book, her writing feels self-conscious.

Lanie van Reenen, the reluctant yet invigorating writer.

Whatever she is doing, it obviously works. I absolutely loved the writing and the way she engages readers with her life. It is the way she achieves writing about herself yet embracing the world. That and her determination to move forward and on when disaster strikes. She writes well and because of her adventurous drive, she is constantly finding herself in some kind of pickle or another, which she then battles to solve in a way that works for her and harms no others.

In this latest offering, she pinpoints a few themes. Probably the most dominant, is the focus on her mother’s last years. Who of us have not had to deal with that, or will in the future – especially women?

“My mom was blessed because she had five daughters all living quite close to her at the time.” In her case, she was living in Stanford, her mom in Hermanus, so she could pop in quite frequently.

But the daughters were also lucky to have a mother who took advantage of life and the fact that she was still living. On her 90th birthday she jumped from a plane. I’m not sure many of us would do that at any age.

It also explains much of Lanie’s spirit. How could one not embrace life with a mother like that! “She was really special,” says Lanie. But at this stage, her mom knew this was her last season.

And that is how this latest book made its first appearance – or at least the title. “She asked one day when she thought she was ready to let go, ‘How difficult can it be? What else do you have but today’s day? (vandagsedag)’”

Chatting about her writing process, especially one that doesn’t lead specifically to writing a book, Lanie does make An effort to document her life. Whenever something special happens (a wale turns up right next to her while she’s having one of her regular swims in the open sea), she writes it down as soon as she can.

In her younger days she was given a special notebook by a special friend, the late Merwede van der Merwe, a television producer in the early days of local television. This became part of Lanie’s life and one that she has always stuck to.

“I also regularly attend writing schools,” she says, “in the hope that I will actually learn to write. It’s about those of us who feel we cannot write.” Here the participants are given special writing exercises, like creating something about their earliest memories for example.

Busy with her third book, and yet another life crisis she had to deal with, she decided she would include these earliest memories throughout the book to give readers an inkling of who she was as a youngster and then grew up to be.

Lanie (right) and Diane pictured by Janetje van der Merwe.

And because these pieces were written to be read aloud the following day in front of a group of would-be writers, she threw herself into every piece. “Luckily, because of that they were usually well written,” she explains.

“I realized there aren’t that many stories about my adult life I have yet to tell.” And as this was to be her last book, she thought that she might as well go back to the beginning, which she did.

She is still amazed at how she managed to publish three books, which she attributes to her years and years of detailing her own life. “Even if I’m on the road, I will stop and write it down,” she says. And we all know how you think you will remember that last thought before you drift off at night …

The next morning it’s gone and you can’t believe that you let those brilliant words go. Each time Lanie decided she would attempt another book, she turned to her notes. “If you want to heed the discipline of writing a book, you have to make a daily appointment with yourself and you have to turn up,” she admonishes.

Following the reading of her first book many years ago and this last book for our conversation, I also read the middle book which completed the circle. I am convinced Lanie isn’t yet finished with her writing. It has become a part of her life, something she turns to when she wants to make sense of her life.

In the meantime, for those of you who haven’t yet discovered her particular oeuvre, explore and enjoy. Hers is an unusual life and one worth reading about.