Category: Music

TWO ARTISTS, MARTLI JANSEN VAN RENSBURG AND MAGDEL VAN ROOYEN REFLECT SIMILAR THOUGHTS IN DIFFERENT WAYS

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Tussen Vlakte/Between Plains is a collaborative exhibition by two Pretoria based artists Martli Jansen van Rensburg and Magdel van Rooyen. This is their third exhibition together and when you see their art, in different mediums, you can see why. DIANE DE BEER met them at the Pierneef’s Kraal De Galerij art gallery just before the opening:

Two friends, both artists but in different mediums, Martli (right)who works in glass and Magdel, (left), a painter, have an uncanny way of creating art that is in conversation whether through colour, shape, intensity or expansive ideas.

They share a lifestyle, their families are friends and understand one another through many conversations, their spirituality and religion. And both of them have an understanding of what they wanted to achieve with this current exhibition.

They explore landscape as both a physical place and a space for reflection. “We have an easy relationship,” explains Martli whose work which I also wrote about at the last exhibition, seems to have taken on new shape and shades of reflections and playful yet serious intent.

“It’s not the making of the art that interests me as much as the in-between conversations,” she says. That’s where she finds her inspiration which she carries through to her art.

Both artists use layering, fragmentation and shifts in perspective to question how they see and understand the world around them. Pointing to one of the works, Magdel notes that the particular painting, a landscape as seen in its fullest form, initiated the rest of her paintings as she zoomed in one different areas of the work for a following paining.

Working with nature and distilling it to its tiniest form, from tiny seed to exspansive plant for example, gave her the chance to explore the way she could play and manipulate the different shapes and textures which sometimes go unnoticed.

Glass on the other hand, says Martli is quite an unforgiving medium to work with but she loves the challenge. She describes her process and the result as a glimpse of her inner thoughts.

With pervious exhibitions she has noticed that many viewers will dive in and grab the invitation to explore with her. Yet both artists are thrilled that their work can be seen and appreciated in whichever way viewers like experiencing art.

In today’s fast-moving world it’s not easy to get people to take time out from their busy schedules, but having seen the work, and listened to these two creative souls, it’s a joyous experience and one that doesn’t ask much in time or energy. In fact, because of their particular combination, the viewing is rich and nourishing.

Martli’s glorious glass extravaganza.

Walkabouts have shown them that many people have  thoughts and issues that lie dormant that can be shaken and stirred in the best possible fashion while viewing art that is made in such a considered way.

The two women are both art lecturers at Pretoria institutions (Martli at TUT, and Magdel at University of Pretoria), work with students all day, and run households which keep them busy. Their personal art is a time of reflection, practicing their own skills and developing their work.

Rather than presenting the landscape as something fixed or familiar, the work invites viewers to experience it as fluid, constantly changing and open to new interpretations. The idea of plain/vlakte is central to the exhibition that exists not only in as physical landscape but also a symbolic one.

Martli explains: Across many traditions, open plains are places of encounter, decision making and transformation. “They are spaces where endings and beginnings meet, and where new possibilities can emerge.

Magdel captures nature in spectacular fashion

“The horizon appears throughout the exhibition particularly in moments when light shifts at the end of the day. And one of the joys is experiencing how they have used their different mediums – glass and paint – to capture these emotions with different tools yet similar feelings.

They are very clear that their work does not seek to provide answers but create opportunities for conversation. They encourage viewers to bring their own experiences, questions and beliefs into the encounter. It is simply the best way to experience any art. Simply look and listen to your heart.

Pierneef’s Kraal, De Galerij Art Gallery is an art gallery set within the original homestead and creative studio of legendary South African landscape artist JH Pierneef. Operating Hours: The gallery and surrounding deli are open Wednesday to Sunday from 7:30 to 4pm (Closed Mondays and Tuesdays).

30 Knoppiesdoorn Avenue, Lynnwood Manor.

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!

THE ROYAL COUNTESS ZINGARA WITH ALL HER GLAMOUR AND GLORIOUS SPECTACLE, IS BACK

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Jonny and Manual in full flight (picture by Spencer du Plessis).

SHOW: La Dolce Royal

DIRECTORS: Valentina and Craig Leo

CAST: A constantly moving spectacle is created with acts that keep changing with a show that is in its second month. To give you an idea:

Timekeeper- Andile Magxaki (SA/Joburg); Weeping Woman – Jenny le Roux (SA/Cape Town); Duo hoop – Jonny Grundy (UK)  Manuel Artino (Sicily); Contortionist – Lunga Buthelezi; (SA/Joburg) Feather balance act – Tatyana Babiy – (Russia); Rope act – Jenny le Roux; Axel Perez – rola bola (Mexico/Las Vegas); Bath act – Jonny & Manuel Havana; Aerial Cradle – Vicki Perez and Juan Pablo (Argentina)

CHOREOGRAPHY: Sam Kotze

VENUE: A glamorously dressed tent

Spectacular singer Megan Spencer(left) and the extravagant colourful Downtown Jonny (picture by Spencer du Plessis).

Get ready to party because that is what happens once you enter the amazing tent of the Royal Countess Zingara.

It doesn’t feel as if much has changed, even though it has been more than a decade since what feels like a travelling group of artists, has been to Gauteng – 2014, if my search is correct. And further reading shows that they first pitched their stylish tent in Cape Town in 2001.

That was why I was quite keen on a return visit. I had been a few times during their earlier seasons and, taking the passing years into account and the way the entertainment scene has evolved, I wanted to know how much they have had to adapt.

It was one of our coldest winter nights and we were wrapped up, but typically this organization doesn’t leave much to chance. The only time the cold got to you was during a trip to the restrooms or back to your car.

Everything inside the tent seemed perfect, and it didn’t feel as if they had changed much of the interiors or the concept. I recalled my initial excitement to what seemed like arty stained-glass windows and the clever composition of the food, with just enough variety and options to please even picky diners.

It is a long night, but they pace themselves, their performers and their guests. There’s never a dull moment. If you arrive early, there’s the fun of getting your face painted for a night of splendour – and no matter how dour your choice of couture, your face will light up the room.

You can also have your fortune read before the time, just in case you want to know about the millions in your future before you empty your pocket on the night.

But once seated inside with 380 guests scattered around the room, there’s more than enough to keep you intrigued. The serving staff, who are there to see that the night runs smoothly for each diner, are all dressed up as if having stepped back in time to ease your journey into this magical space.

The astounding contortionist Lunga Buthelezi

Breathtaking contortionist Lunga Buthelezi 

Think Berlin and the film version of Cabaret. Or perhaps our very own version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream staged with so much success at Maynardville a few years back that it even made a turn at The Market Theatre a few months later.

Some of the characters could also have escaped from the filmset of M*A*S*H or, if you want to go more recent, Harry Potter. And their attitude is as engaging as their attire.

The balance is perfect. While a four-course meal (Executive Chef: Emile Goliath) might sound extravagant, the portions are just right to keep you from wanting more and an exotic cocktail (alcoholic or not) is not excessive and lasts through the evening with a few glasses of water in between. (That is, when you drive rather than Uber).

But to get to the heart of the Zingara magic. It is the performers  – who, on the night, included Jonny Grundy and Manuel Artino, fantastic acrobats who have created a novel approach perfect for this particular venue; contortionist Lunga Buthelezi (from Joburg), who is probably the artist that impressed me most, because of the novelty and the artistry; the classy crooning throughout by The Clorettes, in solo and combination (from left to right, above) Edith Plaatjies, Andrea Anthony, Naz Leeman and Brandon Jonathan and Downtown Johnny (pictured credit Spencer du Plessis), whose name says it all. There are more and, during the run, certain acts are also changed but the style and spectacle is always there.

At the end of the night, I was ready to go home and yet again impressed by the creativity and the charm of this particular venture. It’s great to see something that has lasted through all kinds of fads and phases which has never lost any of its soul and lets you go into the night following an evening of revelry, the pace and passion determined by you.

They provide a venue that embraces, entertainment that holds you throughout, and a menu that works fantastically well while you set the tone.

I think it works especially well if you gather a group of like-minded friends to spend an enchanted African evening.

*The season runs Tuesdays to Sundays at the Melrose Arch Pavilion. Arrive early – gates open at 5pm – to explore the grounds, browse the Bijoux Boutique, get a tarot reading or have your face painted. The curtain rises on La Dolce Royal at 7:30pm and tickets costing from R1 360 per person include a welcome drink, a four-course dinner and the show. Booking is also open for end-of-year functions and special occasions. To book a VIP experience, email Vanessa@zingara.co.za

THE ENORMITY OF STAGING A NEW WORK LIKE THE BACCHAE – AN AFRICAN CHORAL BALLET

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By DIANE DE BEER

PICTURES: LAUGE SORENSEN

This is a year of anniversaries, with theatres and institutions celebrating milestones. One of these is Joburg Ballet whose 25thAnniversary Season promises a monumental year of dance with a range of exciting productions that will showcase the company’s rich history, artistic vision and institutional growth, according to their CEO, Elroy Fillis-Bell at the launch of their milestone Silver Jubilee year. 

With this in mind and in partnership with Arts & Culture at the University of Johannesburg, a division of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA), is currently staging “a world-first Choral Ballet that reimagines Euripides’ iconic tragedy through a uniquely South African lens – The Bacchae: An African Choral Ballet”.

Kitty Phetla centrestage with the Joburg Ballet and the UJ Choir in the background.

And for this spectacular event, they have put together an extraordinary creative team which will excite art lovers across the country. There’s director Jay Pather with his second work on stage this month (see previous review of Constellations at Sandton’s Theatre on the Square), award-winning choreographer Mthuthuzeli November, and most impressively, composer Neo Muyanga, who conceptualised, wrote and composed this first African choral birthday celebration. On stage the Joburg Ballet came together with the UJ Choir and guest artist Kitty Phetla with a production team of note in the wings.

Muyanga started dreaming about the project a number of years ago when he first read a translation of Euripides’s text. “Later,” he writes in the programme, “I was able to locate versions of the story authored by the legendary Wole Soyinka as well as poet Anne Carson, and at each reading I found the story resonated deeply with expressions of worry I hear shared over the media as well as in my own personal interactions regarding what feels like an impending societal crisis, both locally and globally.”

The illustrious dancer Thando Mgobihozi, Joburg Ballet dancers and the UJ Choir in the background.

He describes The Bacchae as “a harrowing tale of what the ancient Greeks called Sparagmos – a festival of violence and mayhem involving the tearing of one another from limb to limb of spilling blood in order to work through periods of upheaval.” He explains that the ancient Greeks devised the genre of tragedy as a way of helping a troubled society navigate towards a catharsis – reaching a point of resetting the city and returning to the ‘right behaviour’.

He started the project by firstly writing a libretto that elaborates on the themes of magic, power, violence and seduction which feature powerfully in the original work to illustrate how these topics could be found in our own contemporary context: the spectre of a political force running roughshod over a systematically disempowered populace, but which is ultimately halted by a saviour figure derisively called ‘a foreigner’ by detractors.

He composed a musical score that hopefully speaks to the pre-eminence of ritual and trance, making deliberate use of brass, percussion and choral, which he argues are meant to reflect our own practices of ritualised worship in the African Christian tradition.

November, the choreographer, realised that for him, it was meant to be a sort of epic ballet. “It’s huge in scope but deeply human,” he emphasises.

“As an artist, I come from many different backgrounds, from traditional African dance, kwaito, pantsula, ballet, contemporary dance and have gone to a performing arts school. A lot of that then informed what felt important at what point.

“I believe this work is about community, and time and time again South Africans have been a strong community that comes together, to fight, to celebrate.”

Bringing it all together, director Pather views The Bacchae as an unbearably tragic story and sums it up as follows: “The slighted and banished God of wine, ecstasy and fertility, Dionysus” (in this instance cast as a woman, the statuesque Kitty Phetla) “returns to Thebes and exacts revenge on the autocratic ruler Pentheus. Swept up in the magical energy of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus), the citizens (who become Bacchae, hence the title) experience ecstasy and freedom as never before. But like all excess, this also has its toll and leads to clashes and violence.”

He notes that the work is variously seen as an ancient tale that demonstrates that disrespect for the Gods will have consequences. And it is also read as a metaphor for, and a warning that, oppressive patriarchal regimes cannot last forever, that they maintain that volcano beneath them at their peril and will explode.

We can all certainly agree that we are living in a world that is dominated by these kinds of excesses, with rulers who are more worried about themselves and their immediate family and friends than about their fellow countrymen.

It’s a glorious proposition to explore and one worthy of the spectacular production in the Joburg Theatre. It’s a chance to see our artists when they come together for a grand collaborative effort on a grand scale.

Personally, however, I felt it lacked that African spirit of originality which I was expecting. Theatre is my area of expertise, but I have always loved especially local music and dance. For me the production was magnificently staged and yet, being the first African choral and ballet of its kind, I was charmed by the performance but left wanting for something more explosively original and African, something that would blow my mind.

Even so, I would urge everyone to go. The fact that something like this was attempted on such a gigantic scale is magnificent. That it didn’t succeed for everyone is what happens in the arts when something new is attempted.

If you’re not constantly shifting boundaries, what’s the point? If anything, this production speaks volumes about the healthy state of the arts.

THE DELIGHTFUL DILEMMA OF DEALING WITH LIFE

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Review by Diane de Beer

Pictures: Ngoma Mphahlele

AFROPOCALYPSE

DIRECTOR: Daniel Buckland

CAST: Market Theatre Laboratory 2nd Year Students

DATES: Until May 23

VENUE: Mannie Manim Theatre at the Joburg Market

It bubbles and bristles with energy, enthusiasm and excitement in this return season of a play which started as a student production in 2024 and returned in 2025 to the National Arts Festival, where it won a Golden Ovation Award, as well as a Naledi for Best Ensemble.

This current season is the forerunner of a showcase at a Swedish Festival, where it is one of four international productions selected from 600 applicants. And rightly so.

I was surprised when leaving the show that it had only been 60 minutes long. It felt much longer, in the best possible sense, and grabs your attention from start to finish. It was packed with adventure and a cast of 14 who never let up as they leapt into this glorious yet often gruesome adventure of the human condition in a world out of kilter.

How would theatre react to a world unhinged, as is presently at play? Through storytelling, of course, and taking this one to a European audience is the perfect choice.

Think of this country’s past and, in the present turmoil, one can only smile. We are sailing along quite nicely, apart from the constant syphoning off of state money, in this instance from the art coffers, which could benefit so many rather than just a few unworthy recipients.

Nevertheless, taking four constant bogeymen in a world that feels overwhelmingly disastrous and desperate: greed, mortality, religion and unconditional love – this outrageous yet wildly entertaining ragtag group use physical theatre and magic realism to uncover and explore what is happening around them and especially out there.

The fact that this comes from a country that not too long ago was viewed as one of the worst in the world, in itself brings hope.

With Buckland’s theatre-making ideal for this tawdry yet dynamic storytelling, it’s a joy to watch with the cast performing magnificently. It’s a compelling piece, told in an original fashion with a story that reaches young and old.

This is what the Market Theatre Laboratory does best. Described as “an incubator for the development of skilled theatre-makers while also producing bold, cutting-edge work”, that is exactly what is represented here.

That is why the way this specific piece has been transformed from its first performances to where it stands now is spectacular and a wonderful testament to what can be achieved in theatre with the right people and plans in place.

None of these 14 players has ever performed internationally and with this one, they are a testament to how theatre can evolve from small beginnings into something special.

Local audiences who see the piece will also be contributing towards the tour, and the cast are given every chance to land on the international stage in the best shape possible. What could be a better advertisement for local theatre, especially in a country like Sweden, which has contributed hugely to The Market and its pursuit of world-class theatre?

But don’t think you will be doing something charitable when going to experience this remarkable play, audiences are the ones that are rewarded.

In essence, the power lies in the originality of the text, the exuberant application and the perfection of the cast.

THE OPERA SINGER HAS PERFECT PITCH

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REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER

THE OPERA SINGER

PRODUCED BY TONY FLACK, TROUPE THEATRE COMPANY AND THE THEATRE ON THE SQUARE

STARRING FIONA RAMSAY AND OWAIN RHYS DAVIES

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JANNA RAMOS-VIOLANTE

VENUE: THEATRE ON THE SQUARE, SANDTON

DATES: 17 to 19 March (7.30 to 9pm), 20 and 21 March 5 to 6.30 pm and 7.30 to 9pm) with similar schedules from 24 to 28 March

A NOTE FROM JANNA RAMOS-VIOLANTE

I wanted to write THE OPERA SINGER because I am deeply interested in the stories we tell about greatness and in what those stories leave out.
We celebrate artists at their peak. We applaud them, photograph them, quote them. We call them icons, divas, legends. But we rarely stay long enough to ask what it cost them to become that, or what remains once the applause has faded. We are very good at consuming brilliance. We are far less comfortable sitting with the human being behind it.
THE OPERA SINGER is a woman who gave everything to her art. Not symbolically. Literally. Her body, her relationships, her youth, her possibility of an ordinary life. She was rewarded with adoration, but adoration is loud and fleeting. Love is quieter. It stays. That distinction became central to the writing of this piece.
Opposite her stands Theo, a journalist. Not a villain. Not a hero. Simply a man who believes, or hopes, that truth can be captured in words. Journalism in this play is not an attack, but a question. Who owns a life once it has been written about?
What happens when private pain becomes public narrative? When does documentation become theft, even when intentions are good?
I am interested in the uneasy space where art, journalism, and celebrity meet. Where the hunger to understand collides with the need to protect. Where truth is slippery, memory unreliable, and identity something that keeps shifting depending on who is looking.
This is not a play about opera. It is a play about devotion. About the choices we make in the name of calling, and the parts of ourselves we quietly abandon along the way. It is about fear, and discipline, and the seduction of being seen. It is also about ageing, and what it feels like to exist in a world that no longer knows what to do with you once your prime has passed.
I hope this piece invites you not just to watch, but to listen. And perhaps to leave thinking a little differently about the lives we admire, the art we consume, and the cost we rarely see.

What joy to have the supreme Fiona Ramsay back on stage in a production written by her regular collaborator Janna Ramos-Violante. And welcome back to her as well on a local stage, living as she has in Europe these past few years. We’ve missed her sharp and incisive voice.

She’s written a thought-provoking play that encourages Ramsay to show her remarkable artistic prowess. There’s so much to admire here, the writing, the staging and the acting – all in ascendancy throughout.

But even more than that, it is a play that’s mesmerizing from start to finish as it draws the curtains on that hidden side of being an artist. Who isn’t intrigued by these backstage secrets, the hidden lives of performers who have to step on stage and share the most intimate details in a story written by someone else?

Through the years Ramsay has given her audience extraordinary characters she has inhabited with her whole body, soul and voice. And this time she brings the flamboyant ageing opera star to glorious life. She looks and plays the part to perfection.

It’s a delightful production that allows the actors (Ramsay and Rhys Davies as Harrington, who brilliantly captures the fan/foil to the irascible fading artist) to play out different scenarios as the artist and the journalist face-off, reflecting the nature of their relationship.

She also shines what she describes as a questioning light on the role of the journalist, who hopes to invite the audience to experience truly great acting or criticize the way a performer might be telling a particular story.

And yet,with the arts always fighting for their very existence, for everyone involved, specifically those with passion, it’s a delicate balance. If you’re not truthful (good or bad) about a particular production, who will trust your guidance in the future?

But who can claim the right to make that judgement? And yet, each one plays a particular role, and hopefully in the end, it’s all driven by a passion for the arts.

As a performer, director and playwright, Ramos-Violante has always had a very strong voice. She interrogates her world with a sharp eye and gives different points of view for her audience to digest. She is intimately familiar with that world and knows all the pitfalls, most of which have no solution but come with the territory, which doesn’t necessarily make it right or wrong. As in many professions, it just is.

She has always had an interesting take on things, writes brilliantly and, in this instance knows her subject. She throws it out there and gives the experienced Ramsay free rein which she claims magnificently.

If you’re interested in theatre and the arts, this is soul food. And especially in these times when everyone is battling for your time and presence, it’s marvelous to witness good old-style theatre with content which has never been more relevant.

FROM BEETHOVEN TO THE BEATLES, THIS TRIO ROCKS THE RHYTMS WITH THE CLASSICS AND JAZZ

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South Africa’s own Charl du Plessis Trio are celebrating 20 years with concerts throughout the year, as well as the launch of their 10th CD. DIANE DE BEER highlights their celebrations of what has been an extraordinary career for this musical trio:

Steinway Artist Charl du Plessis is joined by long-time collaborators Werner Spies (double bass) and Peter Auret (drums) for a reflective journey through two decades of crossover music-making –  both on stage and on their latest album.

As one of the most unique and recognizable musical ensembles in the country, they have built a special audience who enjoy their crossover of classical and jazz tunes with very unique Du Plessis orchestrations and a style that these three individual artists have created together.

Travelling wide, both locally and internationally, they have built a following from Zeerust to Zürich, Stellenbosch to Shanghai, and for those of us watching, follow a punishing schedule that few could imitate.

The way they have perfected their unusual operation, skillfully streamlined the way they rehearse, travel and perform, which allows each one of them to perform on different platforms, is phenomenal and something that budding artists could study.

The Trio was formed in 2006 with Charl and Werner on board while Peter, the latest member to join nine years ago, has worked with them for 18 years as a recording engineer. “Initially, I established the trio because I wanted to play ‘real jazz’,” explains Charl.

The crossover route came later, almost organically. “It was never the plan to mix classical and jazz music.” And that probably is the key to their success – the unique combo. As Peter points out, it isn’t as if there aren’t other musicians doing a similar thing, but it is the unique infusion of the three styles and their musicality that holds the key.

Their many years of working and travelling together has turned them into an unusually tight group, which is visible and audible in their music. That is their strength and as a bonus  their professionalism on and off stage. They have discovered a niche, which has been honed, growing an unusual brand all their own.

Just their instruments, how they choose on which one they play, (Charl, for example, travels with his piano, you have to see it to understand).

He first came to Pretoria as Nataniël’s accompanist and knew that he would have to create and work at his own career. The Charl du Plessis Trio was a result. Not only does he have a double doctorate (classical and jazz music), he also found two magnificent musicians with whom he could develop a specialist genre because of their different skills.

The programme for the anniversary features instrumental favourites, works by classical composers, and a selection of Charl’s original compositions. “Virtuoso improvisation and finely balanced ensemble playing offer an intimate listening experience and a tribute to highlights from their 20-year history.”

The latest CD, which was recorded in Joburg a month ago, is their 10th. Their previous one was recorded during Covid (can you believe, five years ago) titled It Takes Three.

This one offers the music they performed over the past five years, a little bit of Mozart and Beethoven with a jazzy edge and several Beatles songs. “That’s especially what we have been performing most recently, and the traction of the Beatles music was high; people really loved it!”

The title of the album is Take a Sad Song and Make It Better which Fab Four fans will immediately recognise. And that is the perfect representation of their music for these three musos: “We take sad classical music and jazz it up,” says Charl, who is thrilled with the balanced mix of music on this latest addition.

Performance schedule:

*Knysna February 22

* Fairtree Atterbury Theatre March 21/22 (with the launch of the CD on the first night)

* KKNK April 2

* Henley-on-Klip May 9

* Robertson Stadsaal June 5

*Baxter Theatre  June 6

* Hermanus Fynarts June 7

* Stilbaai   June 8

* Johannesburg Linder August 30. 

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 …

MARABI HOLDS AND CHERISHES MEMORIES OF OUR PAST – GOOD AND BAD

~ debeernecessities

REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER

Pictures: Ngoma Mphahlele

MARABI

DIRECTOR: Arthur Malepo

CAST:

VENUE: Market Theatre

DATES: Tonight (7 pm), tomorrow 3 and 7pm, and Sunday at 3pm. The show has been extended until February 22

The times they are a changin …

And that is why this was such an excellent choice to launch the 50th anniversary of one of our country’s icons, The Market Theatre.

Marabi is the kind of show which celebrates and recalls a past which many would rather forget yet must be a constant reminder of where we come from. When Sebotsane is asked about his character’s name, July, he casually responds that it’s the month he was born.

His interrogator laughs and responds that had he been born later, it could have been August. And we are reminded how even names were loaded during those harsh years.

The balance of this mostly joyous production is perfect. Because it is rooted in the music of the time, there’s a nostalgic element which while telling a harsh story of survival, always leans on the music to hold onto the dreams while fighting the good fight.

That’s what has always been part of this country and its people, especially during the darkest times. Marabi reminds us how life was and where we are today. And that we will always have the music, perhaps the most haunting element of the show.

The cast is a big one with mostly seasoned actors and you need that with this production, which needs the full cast to be accomplished actors, dancers and singers.

Even though we are reflecting on times when most people in the country had no rights, looking back has a certain bravura to it. We’ve made it through. When watching it the first time, that luxury was not available and The Market was one of the few theatres allowed to have mixed audiences … lest we forget.

Director Molepo was part of the original cast and the perfect choice. He gets the mood right, allows a clever text to have impact while softening the blows with a glorious mix of music and movement.

The lighting is also used magnificently, sometimes bathing the stage in shadows so that the singing is the standout performance.

Theatre is such a fantastic barometer of life and what is happening around us. It helps to put the world in perspective, allows the emotions to bubble over in a safe space and, more than anything, reminds us the importance of artists and storytelling.

These are different times, but the world outside our borders is a precarious one. Marabi is a reminder of how much we’ve changed – and also of how much we still have left to do. Yet more importantly, while everyone seems to be moving backwards, we must keep forging ahead. Of course, there are bumps in the road but we have battled many before and won.

This is one for those of us who lived through the past, but also for a new generation who doesn’t quite understand or even believe where we came from. If nothing else, the music should be part of our memories. Even the youngsters in the audience were singing along, which is evidence that we can cherish some key elements of the worst times.

And hats off to the genius piano player who kept us tapping our feet from when we entered the theatre up to the curtain call!

SINGING THE BLUES

~ debeernecessities
REVIEWED BY DIANE DE BEER

BLUES IN THE NIGHT

Presented by Joburg’s Market Theatre in partnership with Hattiloo Theatre from Memphis Tennessee

CAST: Chastity Alliston, Zan Tarria Edwards, Jamille Hunter and Grant Kee

DATES: Until February 22 at Joburg’s Market Theatre

This Tony-nominated musical states that it celebrates blues, jazz and gospel classics, and their connection is with love, resilience and especially the emotional lives of Black women.

It is described as a scorcher in which the soul of the blues wails out full and strong through hot and torchy numbers. It also weaves the sweet, sexy, and sorrowful stories of three women entangled with a lying, cheating man.

For the record, songs by legends such as Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter, Jimmy Cox, Ida Cox, and more feature but probably what surprised me more than anything was how little I knew of any of the music performed.

It’s as if we (or perhaps that’s simply the shows I saw) focused on only a few familiar numbers like the title song as so much of the music was unfamiliar to me. But, instead of this being a negative, I found that exciting.

The performers are perfect for this musical challenge. The powerhouse Edwards, with a voice that seems to go on forever, is masterfully complemented by the sweet-toned Hunter and the smoky Alliston, while the solo male singer Kee, carrying the burden for the rest of his absent gender, uses his voice and jaunty presence to do the talking.

Not only was I witnessing an unfamiliar cast, it was also the music that overwhelmed me from start to finish. The first half felt a bit like a journey through the world of blues music, while the second half upped the rhythm as well as the vocals, which gave the audience a nudge to swing with the party.

This is music that was created to illustrate the pain of oppressive times, and like here, music was usually the platform where artists could express themselves. This show was picked specifically for Black History Month, which marks its 100th year in 2026.

The centenary calls for “an honest reflection on memory, healing, culture, as well as the condition and position of Black bodies in a still increasingly divided world.”

This milestone further coincides with The Market Theatre’s 50th anniversary, a powerful connection that presents a rich opportunity for representation and amplification of unheard voices.  It is directed and choreographed by Emma Crystal, with musical direction by Dr. Ashley K. Davis.

And while on relevant dates, this is also the 70th anniversary of the historic August 9,1956 Women’s March, focusing the spotlight even more sharply on that especially neglected group, Black women.

Founder and CEO of Hattiloo Theatre, Ekundayo Bandele, and Artistic Director of The Market Theatre Foundation, Greg Homann, recognised and embraced the common histories between the two theatres in staging socially engaged works that prick at their respective nations’ collective conscience.

“From South Africa to the US, generations of oppressed people have sung their way up against discrimination, racism, subjugation and dispossession as an unstoppable wave. This year as we proudly present Blues in the Night for its African premiere, we also celebrate music’s ability to remind us of our shared humanity despite our fractured times,” shares Homann.

They aim to keep this exchange going – both to the advantage of performers and audiences.

*Playing alongside also at the Market is our own musical theatre classic Marabi, which will be reviewed later this week.