Category: Music

FLY TO PANTOLAND WITH JANICE HONEYMAN

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When you think pantomime in Gauteng, there’s only one name that comes to mind and that is Janice Honeyman. She’s not counting but, when you ask, she admits that come this time of year, she’s excited.  She shares her excitement of this year’s extravaganza, PETER PAN, with DIANE DE BEER.

Sandi Dlangalala as Peter Pan

Writer/director Janice Honeyman loves pantomime because it is also her time to play – even when putting it all together is serious work. “If the cast don’t genuinely believe in their characters, it won’t work,” she says. And that is what she works hard to get through to all the panto novices in her cast.

It all started for her when she was asked to do a panto by Lynette Marais, who headed the drama department of the Performing Arts Council in the province at the time. “I found a book open panto titled Oh Yes It Is”, a phrase used in every panto to involve the audience and get them fully on board.

That happened more or less 36 years ago, but we’re not really counting and in-between she might have missed three shows. But not only does she direct the pantos, even more importantly, she writes them. And this is where her imagination often runs riot – in the best sense of the word. Her child who is always lurking emerges and it is blast-off time.

So much ther queen of the pantomime, Janice Honeyman has her own pictureIn in the children’s room in Peter Pan.

the writing, her dad is ever present. “He loved telling jokes around the dining room table,” she explains. “They weren’t always that funny,” she admits. But still, this year, she has again included two. And she smiles…

It’s nostalgia, it’s a traditional story, like this year’s Peter Pan with the awful Captain Hook and his sidekick Smee who cause trouble for the hero Peter Pan, the Darling children, lost boys and of course, Tinkerbell. One of the delights of any panto is always the dame and in this instance, Dame Clementina Coconut who introduces much of the Honeyman wit, fun and playfulness, double-entendres and, of course, her dad’s jokes.

Don’t forget about the audience participation and, naturally, a few surprises.

Dame Clementina Coconut (David Arnold Johnson) with Smee (Michael Richard), two of the colourful characters in this year’s panto.

Her last foray into Neverland was 14 years ago and since then many things have changed on stage. For the past few years, because of Covid, she has swapped the sets for LED screens, but she has missed the tangibility and theatricality of the sets and this year, she decided to combine the two, using the best of both worlds. Expect a spectacle of sorts!

“I found it tough to adapt to no furniture,” she says about the LED screens, but all that changes with the combo.

More than anything, pantomime is an invitation to Janice to do all the stuff she feels great affection for. “I jol straight through this.”

And moving from the look of the latest panto to the cast with its combination cast – youth and experience – that’s what she most enjoys, working with the actors. She loves the energy of the young cast, while the experienced actors can show the way to the youngsters. “They represent the well-trained professionals who set the example,” she says.

 And Janice herself learns from her casts who keep her on her toes. That’s where especially the youth plays a particular role. They know what is happening on the ground, what is buzzing and what has fallen off the trend scale for example. It’s part of her script to play with her audience’s world so that her jokes can land smoothly.

On stage, Sandi Dlangalala, who will be playing the brave hero Peter Pan, says: “I am beyond excited to be in the Panto this year. It is my first Janice Honeyman pantomime. I am ready and so excited for rehearsals to start and to be given the lead role is such a huge honour.”

For veteran Ben Voss, it’s different: “Playing Captain Hook in this year’s magical romp, Peter Pan will be my fourth year dishing out mayhem, malice and mischief. It’s the silliness, the scale and the slickness that I love so much. I am already making great progress growing my four- inch moustache, mending my pantaloons and carving my cutlass. Hopefully, like me, you will be HOOKED too!”

Some scene stealers in this year’s panto.

Michael Richard, who has also performed in panto many times, will be playing Smee, Captain Hook’s right hand. “This is my fifth or sixth pantomime for Janice over many years and I am still so excited about embarking on this new adventure. I may not be able to prance around as much I used to in my younger days, but the thrill is still there.”

Kiruna Lind-Devar will be playing Wendy. “Some of my most precious friends and memories come from Pantoland, so I cannot wait to step back into that space and dance, sing and fly. All with a little faith, trust and pixie dust!”

Their Dame Clementina Coconut will be played by David Arnold Johnson: “Being a Dame is always a treat. Working with Janice even more so.”

This time around, Virtuous Kandemiri will be sprinkling fairy dust as Tinkerbell: “I’m so excited, I’m soaked in fairy dust. I can’t wait to play Tinkerbell, a character that I’ve always loved as a child, and one that I know many people love equally, if not more. I’m really looking forward to my first Honeyman Pantomime.”

The rest of the cast year include Matthew Berry, Inge Breytenbach, Gugu Dhlamini, Diego Hamity, Tarryn Heard, Dirk Joubert, Sarah Leigh, Charity Madhlazi, Siya Makakane, Gareth Meijsen, Noni Mkhonto, Bo Molefe, Lesedi Mpshe, Tania Mteto, Sibusiso Mxosana, Tshepo Ncokoane, Brian Ngobese, Manyano Ngoma, Zamaswazi Nkosi, Micah Stojakovic, and Kensiwe Tshabalala.

And always by her side is her appreciated associate director Timothy le Roux

In conclusion, the one thing she truly believes is that everyone needs end-of-year entertainment. With panto, it’s recognisable, has heart and gives her an opportunity to make them laugh.

Everyone also relates to Once upon a time… and Everyone lived happily ever after.

And that makes Janice Honeyman happy!

Tickets are on sale through www.joburgtheatre.com or by calling 0861 670 670.

Prices start at R190. Student and pensioner prices available.

Peter Pan on the Mandela Stage at Joburg Theatre opened this weekend and runs until December 24.

FEISTY FESTIVALS ARE BACK IN FANTASTIC FORM

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With two festivals, Aardklop in Gauteng and Woordfees in Stellenbosch, following one on the other, everyone was keen to see what would happen both on stage and in the auditoriums post Covid. Would they come, was perhaps the most worrying. DIANE DE BEER visited both and was excited by the bounce back of the arts on the festival circuit – with the audiences to support them:

If you look at the winners of this year’s Aardklop productions, it is the veterans who grabbed all the awards.

A very surprised but bursting with pride Elzabé Zietsman reigned supreme with three wins for Femme is Fatale.

I remember when I first saw this in-your-face production at the Vrye Fees last year – it hit hard. In a  country where gender-based violence reaches pandemic-like numbers, you need to grab audiences by the throat. And that’s exactly what this singer/actress does with a magnificent gloves-off script and an attitude that dares anyone not to  take notice.

From her initial on-stage look until she strips down to throw the horror of what is happening to individuals in this country in your face, she doesn’t make a wrong move. It’s attention grabbing for all the right reasons and takes someone as experienced, brave and talented as Ms Zietsman to swing high and low with your emotions.

It’s one of those performances that will stay with you forever and it is her intention, even before winning for Best Musical Performance, Best Music-Driven Production and Best Overall Winner, to find a way to take the show to schools across the country. And in her acceptance speech, she sung the praises of her accompanist Tony Bentel – with reason.

Hopefully, this has empowered her plan of action and promotional campaign. If she can’t encourage change with this one, the world is a really sad place.

Sandra Prinsloo’s performance in Moeder also never flagged. Again, I’ve seen it many times, mostly for her performance and an astonishing script as well as a near-flawless production directed by Christiaan Olwagen.

I’ve said a few times that his place is on stage, it’s where he shines brightest, even though he will probably prove me wrong sooner rather than later.

But he has such a good eye, a filmic vision and the heart to realise that Prinsloo could and should play this woman. It’s one of her best performances ever and I’ve seen many. At the festival I heard people often praising her performance in Masterclass because, of course, Ms Prinsloo hardly ever appears at a festival in just a single production.

I hope she leaves notes for her younger counterparts about concentration, focus and stamina. And again, as so many times in her life, she was rewarded for an astonishing performance in Moeder with the production named the Best Theatre  Production as well as Best Production by an independent group of art lovers, Aardklop Hartsvriende (Friends of the heart).

A scene with Bettie Kemp and Dawid Minnaar in Mirakel.

Another stalwart, David Minnaar, played her flawed partner and, as always, he knew how to pitch just the right tone as the errant husband, but it was in Marthinus Basson’s tour de force Mirakel where he was given a part which especially revealed his comedic qualities.

It is one of Reza de Wet’s lighter works although the message is as hard-hitting and relevant as anything she has written. But Minnaar with Basson as his champion walked a fine line with great relish which added to the performance.

I felt that he was enjoying the play as much as anyone watching it. Because of the travelling theatre company and its dramatics that rule this play, he could charge with dramatic fervour through the hysterics of the flailing players all trying their best to make their lives and livelihood work.

It captures that world which has remained almost unchanged with such dexterity as only a De Wet/Basson partnership can achieve thus allowing a Dawid Minnaar to soar and win as Best Actor and Basson to pick up yet another Best Director award.

An ENTRANCE by the delightful Eben Genis while the company’s leading couple sleep on.

In the same play, Eben Genis (above) also announced his welcome return to the stage to great delight of theatre goers and was warmly received with a Best Supporting Actor award. It is his subtlety, his nuanced excursion into this world, which is a reminder of the fine actor he is.

The Best new Afrikaans text was claimed by Philip Rademeyer who wrote and directed Goed wat wag om te gebeur, the Afrikaans version of The Graveyard starring Gideon Lombard, Antoinette Kellerman and Emma Kotze.

It deals with Hendrik’s return to his childhood home where he struggles with past demons including violence, blame and addiction, all the while trying to suppress his anger and hurt with drink. The only niggle was a text that would have been even better with some clever culling, and this was probably the most common culprit in too many productions.

At a festival where the experienced artists were the ones who often captured the audiences and my praise, I was again overwhelmed by Nataniël’s Ring van Vuur. It is no secret that he is one of my most cherished performers, but there’s reason for that. And again he proved me right with a show that was simply sublime. Not only did he give one of his best performances, he also introduced me to guitarist Loki Rothman whose name was familiar, but no one had ever mentioned his particular flamboyance on a guitar.

Not only does Nataniël give us a quality show, he is also generous with the artists he introduces to a wider audience. That’s the sign of a great and confident artist. I know most music fans will be familiar with Rothman’s prowess on the guitar, but because I am mainly a theatre writer/critic, I have never had the privilege.

Most of these productions made sharp u-turns as they winged their way down to Stellenbosch with the much larger Woordfees, welcoming audiences as Aardklop was waving goodbye.

And again, there was much to praise with a festival bulging with new presentations and productions, enough to have everyone smiling. It’s not about the one or the other. Both have equal right to their audiences, they shouldn’t compete and if I have to make deductions about attendance, both have a strong following for their particular brand. Mostly it probably has to do with where audiences live and how far they’re willing to travel. Convenience, I suspect, will be the determining factor.

As a working journalist, I was blessed to go to both.

And if I have to start with a production that had me thinking, shocked me to my core because of content yet filled me with admiration for the inspirational Jaco Bouwer and cast for tackling such a daring and dangerous text – in the best sense of the word.

Melissa Myburgh (left) with Tinarie van Wyk Loots pictured with Myburgh (right) in the startling Die Vegetariër.

Bouwer, one of our most exciting directors has been working in the television and film world for the last while and has been missed because of his brand of theatre, which always pushes boundaries and challenges audiences to engage with tough issues rather than turning away and tuning out.

From the moment you enter and witness the amazing set of Die Vegetariër, your mind starts racing. There’s something pristine and perfect about the space and yet it’s a slaughterhouse, which is an ominous sign even before the action starts.

Die Vegetariër pictured by Nardus Engelbrecht

But in typical Bouwer fashion, he hits you in the solar plexus from start to finish and while you might be reeling throughout trying to contain your emotions racing ahead, it’s the unflinching text and cast that stay with you as you keep unravelling the lives of the people who share their stories.

And you keep coming back to the slab of meat you keep staring at as you enter and the meat hook that just hangs there menacingly until it captures the crux of what you are witnessing. It’s hardcore, but in the world we live in with gender-based violence such a scourge (as already mentioned), we have almost become immune not only as individuals but as a society.

The cast – Stian Bam, Wilhelm van der Walt, Tinarie van Wyk Loots and Melissa Myburgh – are staggering in this brutally honest portrayal of life for far too many as physical and psychological abuse becomes the common language in relationships. And the young Myburgh deserves a special mention because her character’s youth embodies vulnerability and defencelessness in all its harshness and is the most exposed.

It’s not easy to watch, but because of the approach of everyone involved, from Willem Anker’s adaptation of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian to Bouwer’s brilliant conception and the way he seamlessly pulls it all together from the enveloping visuals to the overwhelming performances, it’s simply a privilege – and one that stays and niggles at you forever.

Hold Still with the astounding acting couple Mwenya Kabwe and Andrew Buckland.

On a different spectrum but as challenging, Jay Pather’s Hold Still with an extraordinary text by Nadia Davids tackles refugees, one of the toughest issues in today’s unravelling world as we roll from one crisis to the next. And if you look closer, refugees are at the centre of most of them. Think Gaza.

But what she does is take a model modern couple and make them face today’s harsh reality. There’s a reason refugees cause such heartache and often horror. There aren’t solutions or none that is workable, so many simply turn their backs.

It’s gritty yet glorious theatre as two veteran actors (Andrew Buckland and Mwenya Kabwe) star as a delightful couple who lovingly banter away until the very essence of their family relationships is blown apart. Both these actors take your breath away with performances that are in your face and completely in the moment. They’re complemented by the two youngsters in the cast, Lyle October as their son and Tailyn Ramsamy as his friend in search of refugee status, hence the dilemma.

As the mother so aptly confesses:  they sold their son a story about their moral selves which they themselves had come to believe. It’s real world issues, tough to work through and easier to ignore, yet this is the perfect platform to grapple with our reality today.

An exuberant Caleb Swanepoel in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Picture: Llewellyn de Wet.

And the third piece that blew me away was Geoffrey Hyland’s Maynardville Shakespeare production, which I am thrilled to announce is coming to Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino in November. If you see nothing else this year, don’t miss this production.

It is simply glorious and will have you screaming with laughter from beginning to end. I cannot imagine a better introduction to Shakespeare than this play that symbolises everything that this fantastic playwright is about. It’s entertainment writ LARGE and simply the perfect end-of-year production with an astounding cast put together magnificently.

My only qualm is that it was first staged at Maynardville, Cape Town’s glorious outdoor theatre venue, and I saw it at the Libertas amphitheatre in Stellenbosch, but with Hyland’s astonishing artistry, I’m sure you won’t even notice. Never before would I have thought that I would be so happy to see a Shakespeare at a festival. That it was included in the programme, was simply a stroke of genius.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a spectacle in colour and charm.
Picture: Mark Wessels.

Just go – and tell everyone around you not to miss this fantastic show. You won’t regret it and start this festive season in the best possible way. (See full review once it has opened with a run from 8 to 19 November.)         

  • I have singled out only a handful of productions which I saw at the festivals. There are many more to praise, but I grabbed those few that grabbed both my head and heart and wouldn’t let go …                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

THE PROMISE DELIVERS CHALLENGING THEATRE WITH DIRECTOR SYLVAINE STRIKE AT THE HELM

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DIANE DE BEER

Pictures: Claude Barnardo

The Promise cast on stage.

THE PROMISE

ADAPTATION:

Author Damon Galgut with Sylvaine Strike and suggestions by the cast

DIRECTOR

Sylvaine Strike

CAST

Chuma Sopotela, Rob van Vuuren, Kate Normington, Frank Opperman, Jane de Wet, Jenny Stead, Albert Pretorius, Sanda Shandu, Cintaine Schutte

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND ARCHIVIST

Kirsten Harris

SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN

Joshua Lindberg

MUSIC DIRECTOR, SOUND DESIGN AND ORIGINAL SCORE

Charl-Johan Lingenfelder

CHOREOGRAPHY AND INTIMACY CO-ORDINATOR

Natalie Fisher

COSTUME DESIGN

Penny Simpson

VENUE

The Market Theatre

DATES

Until November 5

Jane de Wet, Rob van Vuuren and Jenny Stead.

One has to admire artist Sylvaine Strike’s process when she decides on a project. It’s all systems go and in Strike’s world, the focus is unfailing.

She spent 18 months hard at work on this extraordinary piece of theatre, which has finally reached The Market Theatre.

But there are a few things to take on board before you arrive. It’s based on a book, Damon Galgut’s The Promise, and that means that it is her interpretation of Galgut’s writing and script, even if he was closely involved throughout.

Also, it is two hours 40 minutes long and for many less-experienced theatre goers, that might be quite

 an ask. One has to be theatre fit.

Albert Pretorius and Sanda Shandu as two policemen

But for me there’s no question that it has to be seen, and a very packed and excited audience obviously in anticipation was ready and waiting on opening day. Even when we arrived to collect tickets there was an audible buzz and it was lovely to experience a theatre event of this kind. The last one was the August Wilson production at the Joburg Theatre last year.

Five minutes into the production, I already had a smile. For this one, Strike created her own theatre language in which to tell her story and for me, it couldn’t have been further from the language and storytelling of the book, yet both had a very individual and personal flavour which I loved.

I almost felt as though I had walked into a kind of grotesque fairy tale for adults and, while the approach might have felt comical to some, it was anything but because of the content and the story it was telling.

Frank Opperman.

It was also clear that as individuals, those watching the play would have to buy into the concept – and for me that wasn’t a tough ask. It’s why we watch theatre, to catch those productions where those participating take risks to give audiences a storytelling experience that’s novel and best suited to a particular text.

The Strike brand has always been about her individual style and, while she pays close attention to the text, her language is much more than just something we listen to. She uses the stage and everything visual as part of the ensemble and then she adds very specific movements and rhythms as well – as in this instance, a soundscape by genial music man Charl-Johan Lingenfelder with a kind of music/sound box on the side of the extraordinary stage designed insightfully by Joshua Lindberg, who was also responsible for fantastic lighting (so delighted that the family name lives on in our theatre landscape).

And that in itself sets the tone for this topsy-turvy world the Swart family inhabit. The matriarch of the family, seemingly the one that held them steady with a strong hand and a moral compass, has died. Thus we find all of them in turmoil as they come together for the family funeral (one of four that determine four periods in a country gone mad).

But there’s one obstacle  –  Amor (Jane de Wet), the youngest sibling, had heard Ma (Kate Normington) extract a promise from Pa (Frank Opperman) that he would give Salome (Chuma Sopotela) her house on the furthest corner of the farm, mainly because she was the one who diligently and lovingly looked after the mother in her illness.

A familiar scene in many white South African households and the rest of the family simply disengage while Amor keeps at it relentlessly – determinedly – as their conscience. The ensemble of nine work well together as a group and individually, although I suspect, audiences will have different favourites.

Cintaine Schutte and Albert Pretorius .

Amongst the men, my favourite performer was Albert Pretorius who even though his many different characters often had a comical edge, he manages such a fine artistic line and knows just how to hold it back. Frank Opperman also captured his different characters masterfully. Rob van Vuuren is at the heart of the piece as Anton Swart.

Chuma Sopotela is the key of the piece as both Salome and the storyteller, and in both roles her strong presence holds The Promise, both in the production and at the centre of the story. She was the perfect fit.

Each one of the performers added to the whole. Because many roles were played by each actor, some characters worked better than others, and who you like or discard will be a personal preference. I don’t think with the adopted style there’s a right or wrong, it’s a preference thing.

So how did it all come together. It’s a HUGE production. I suspect, especially while writing this review, that one needs more than one or two viewings to truly appreciate the breadth of the drama and staging. I can simply stand back in awe.

What for me personally would have worked better, would have been to lose most of the second half (obviously not the end). Up to the interval, everything worked perfectly, but then it started to unravel. A trim of an hour would have been my ask and would have served the actors and the story better.

It was as if sustaining the production for swo long was too big an ask and detracted rather than added to the final product.

Should people go? What a question! It’s a theatrical experience. There’s a cast that does exquisite work, moments that will take your breath away, a set, costumes and lighting that all contribute to the bigger picture and, finally, a director who puts herself out there, pushes as far as she dares, breaks boundaries and develops ways of telling stories that keep you riveted.

You might not love every minute, but you have to admire the artistry, the vision and the theatricality with scope that’s daunting yet inevitable when Strike decides to do it. And we’re the beneficiaries.

SYLVAINE STRIKE’S INSIGHTFUL PLAY WITH DAMON GALGUT’S BOOKER PRIZE WINNER THE PROMISE

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Time was the rare gift that celebrated director Sylvaine Strike was given with her latest production, The Promise, written and adapted (from his novel) by author Damon Galgut. She tells DIANE DE BEER more about the extraordinary process which started more than 18 months ago and is on at The Market (until November 5) following its recent Cape Town run:

“In a way, The Promise selected me,” she explains, because Damon approached her to adapt it for the stage, thinking that she would probably be the right fit because he had foreseen that it would have to be done very theatrically and very physically if it were to have a theatrical life at all.

She was utterly smitten by the idea, but insisted that Damon adapt it alongside her because she was reluctant to tinker with his text. “I needed him to travel the road and structure it in a way that he would feel could live as theatrical version.” She had read the novel twice even before he contacted her and was delighted.

The Promise with the full cast as well as author, Damon Galgut (left) and Sylvaine Strike (right).

When it came to casting, it began with finding the right person to set the bar from a physical perspective and she knew from the outset when reading The Promise and imagining who her Anton could be, that it was Rob van Vuuren.

Gifted this opportunity of a role that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Rob was thrilled just to delve into this exquisite character and the very many facets of it. Sylvaine knew he would be the one who she would work off in finding the rest of the family, which includes Frank Opperman as Anton’s father, an Afrikaans patriarch, Kate Normington as his mother, jenny Stead as Astrid, his middle sister, and the young Jane de Wet as Amor

“The pivotal and most important character of Salome is played by Chuma Sepotela, who holds this exquisite part in two dimensions in the sense that she’s also the narrator of the piece, as Chuma herself, who plays the story conjuror.”

Sandu Shando plays Lukas, Salome’s son, and “the amazing Albert Pretorius and Cintaine Schutte, both adding deep dimension, comedy and pathos in the roles of Tannie Marina and Okkie as well as the many characters they portray,” she concludes.

In total it’s a cast of 9 and, before anything else, they did a workshop with Sylvaine to discover the physical language as the blueprint to the play.

In rehearsals: the cast and director Sylvaine Strike.

With both the director and writer growing up in Pretoria, their coming together was almost written in the stars. “I think growing up in Pretoria and being aware of the glaring chasm between the haves and the have nots, the ability for Pretoria to ride that knife edge between ignoring the political reality, the lies that have been woven to its children, the incredible duality between darkness and light, tragedy and comedy that this book engages with and its calling out for us to face the shame for how we lived,” all of that made the book irresistible.

“There’s no escape but to look it in the eye, which is what this was and showing what it felt like for me. The novel forced me to do it as it named everything I was feeling growing up there as a child and being a teenager there and sensing that something was so terribly wrong with it.

The full cast on stage. Photographer: Claude Barnardo.

“Four decades of Pretoria so distinctly captured, I rose to the challenge of telling the story on stage because I wanted to reach people with it and make them feel what it felt like for me to read it and everything it made me feel to confront our whiteness in its brutal hideousness and its complexity and own it.”

Once the decision was made, she and Damon sat for two solid weeks unpacking the novel. At first he really battled with seeing how it could be put on stage. Sylvaine thinks that in his mind the locations were so specific that it took some time for them to understand the kind of language it would need in order to tell the story.

“We both agreed that the very fluid narrative that Damon captures and writes in, a narrative that changes perspective all the time, changes its mind all the time, needed to come from a chorus almost in the Greek tragedy sense, to comment on the action, to speak to the hero or the anti-hero, to contain their thoughts, and to move swiftly through the action alongside it.”

Scenes on stage. (Pictures: Claude Barnardo)

Neither the reader nor the writer could hold on to all their darlings. They knew they had to lose certain bits of the novel, cutting and culling, choosing only the very essential parts of the story, and look at compressing it into a time frame that would suit theatre, so much more condensed than in a book.

 They also needed to find a theatrical language and a physical language that was able to edit between time and place very swiftly, where actors could age from one decade to the next simply by using their bodies. Damon then proceeded to write five drafts which incorporated this language and refined it more and more and more.

In between the first and second draft they had a workshop which Damon attended in which she worked with her cast and at which Charl-Johan Lingenfelder (music/soundscape) and Joshua Lindberg (set and lighting design ) as well as Penny Simpson (costumes) were present. “It was a collaborate effort to reach a place  where script was done and created,” she explains.

Wearing her heart on her sleeve, director Sylvaine Strike.

Photographer: Martin Kluge

In conclusion, after all the hard work, the introspection, a fantastic cast, long hours and hard work, she hopes audiences take a good hard look  at our country  –  and a soft look as well. “And by that I mean allowing us to enter its deep humanity and inhumanity, looking into a mirror, admitting our own whiteness, hearing it, not making excuses for it,  not trying to explain it, but most of all really looking at the relationship we have as South Africans with each other.

“There’s also the microcosm of a family and its domestic worker Salome, which is a microcosm for  the dynamics within our country, the difficulties, the obstacles, the promises made and broken, the lack of care we have for one another, the care in some aspects, about our country looking at itself, not being spoken down to, but simply observing itself, taking a step back to see more clearly, not back in time, just to get more focus on where we’re at.

“And what I love about The Promise is that it doesn’t offer any solutions, just gives us a glimpse of what we have done and what we have become over the last four decades of our country’s democracy.”

THE PHENOMENAL NATANIËL IN FULL FLOW

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October is a month packed with performances for one of our most prolific performers, Nataniël. He tells DIANE DE BEER about his punishing schedules as he presents three shows – all completely different, yet all with one thing in common, the artist and his creativity:

It all begins with Momentum Beleggings Aardklop which is back in Potchefstroom following the upheavals of the pandemic

Ring van Vuur attempts to bind five fiery elements together: original music from more than three decades; original stories as only he can imagine; the rhythms and techniques of countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Peru; a shimmering set of costumes designed by his personal designer Floris Louw; and seven world class musicians.

Charl du Plessis on keyboards is joined by Werner Spies (bass) and Peter Auret (bass) as well as four brilliant guitar players: Juan Oosthuizen, Loki Rothman, Leon Gropp and Luke van der Merwe.

He promises to present 90 minutes of heartache, humour, heat, virtuosity and rhythms.

As part of the Aardklop festivities, the show will be presented on October 3 at 3 and 7pm in the Beeld Auditorium

Book at ticketpros.co.za.

Nataniël follows this with a short new season titled ROME ’62

On October 10 to 15, he returns to Pretoria’s Atterbury Theatre.

At a fair in the Free State, there’s a stall that sells second hand clothes. In between the rather tired-looking garments, there’s an unusual outfit, handmade by an acclaimed Italian designer. This discovery a few years back, was the first sighting of what has eventually turned into this particular show.

From family secrets, suspicion, stunning strangers, international travel, legendary films, timeless radio hits to exuberant fashion and the most dramatic designs, everything is included with stories in both English and Afrikaans, as well as music in abundance, brand new as well as six decades old.

Charl du Plessis (piano), Werner Spies (bass), Peter Auret (drums) and Wernd van Staden (cello) will be the accompanying orchestra.

Costumes by Floris Louw.

ROME ’62

Atterbury Theatre

From 10 to 15 October

Book at Seat Me

Finally a performance that Nataniël is hugely excited about and describes as his best:

Titled MASS FOR THE GOOD PRINCES it is a follow-up of last year’s successful DIE SMITSTRAAT SUITE. This one though is his first full length musical mass based on the classical structure of a composition with five, six or seven parts, which is a prayer for goodness, new leadership and the hope of a new generation.

The mass will be sung in Latin and English with stories and descriptions in Afrikaans.

As before, he shares the stage with Ockie Vermeulen (organ),

Charl du Plessis (keyboard), Juan Oosthuizen (guitar), Werner Spies (bass), Peter Auret (drums and percussion) and the Akustika Chamber Choir led by Christo Burger.

Aardklop Aubade

Sunday October 29

Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool

11am and 3pm

Book at ticketpros.co.za

At all these shows, he begs for no cell phones, no short pants and promises no intervals!

A MAGICAL MUSICAL CARPET RIDE WITH PIANIST CHARL DU PLESSIS AND CONDUCTOR RICHARD COCK

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The Charl du Plessis Trio with the Phoenix Orchestra conducted by Richard Cock will showcase some unique and exciting music for piano and orchestra (sponsored by MayFord Seeds) on September 10 at the Linder Auditorium. DIANE DE BEER chatted to the much loved conductor Richard Cock about music and its longevity:

Musical chums Charl du Plessis and Richard Cock.

He has worked as a conductor in so many spheres of music, from the old days of the National Symphony Orchestra with strict classical repertoire to these days conducting the beloved Starlight Classics concerts with pop, rock and crossover music, which has everything to do with stretching the appeal to reach as wide an audience as possible.

And while more serious concerts will always be part of his repertoire, most of his work involves the crossover type programmes like this one with Charl and his trio and the Phoenix Orchestra, which started during the Covid period when they were trying to create work when there was none. “We have continued since as it worked well and players were responsive,” says Richard.

On piano: Charl du Plessis

With piano the featured instrument for this concert, Richard believes that it is the instrument that most audiences identify with most easily hence the attraction. “I think many people have played the piano in their youth and they can associate with it quite easily. You can also see how it is played, and it is pretty impressive to see the hands flashing over the keyboard. There is a big visual element that comes into play.”

The programme will include arrangements of music by classical composers as well as some new upbeat arrangements in diverse styles, ranging from rock and boogie to blues. Audiences can also look forward to big band jazz and soothing film music sounds. The concert will also include arrangements of music by Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mozart, as well as Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington and Astor Piazzolla.

Richard Cock

“It’s a wide range of music, beautiful and expert arrangements by Charl, and unusual contrasts (Grieg and Lady Gaga). All of this and the presentation where Charl and I chat to each other about the music makes it unique,” he explains.

“We have worked together since he was a young boy singing in the Bloemfontein Children’s Choir! And a lot more recently. I love his energy and creativity, and we have a good verbal exchange on stage. The chat is unrehearsed and spontaneous, and thus lively and fresh every time.”

Conductor for the ages: Richard Cock.

With so much on offer, live and online post Covid, audiences will always be a need for what is perceived as more niche art forms, but the conductor is excited about the future.  “ I see audiences changing and a lot of younger people are attending classical and orchestral concerts.” As one of the presenters on Classic 102.7 for many years, it was a loss to many regular listeners but like many things in life, Richard knows how to mourn and when to move on. “The chances of getting another Classic station are low.”

Instead he puts the emphasis on what he can still do and something that has always dominated his life – conducting. It invigorates and challenges him still. “I love the creative process of bringing music off the printed page and into the air. It never fails to excite me, and I hope the audience too.”

Linder Auditorium, JHB, 3pm, Sunday 10 September

Quicket link for bookings: https://www.quicket.co.za/events/218206-bach-beethoven-and-boogie/?ref=algolia-search#/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Book at SeatMe).      

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

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

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

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

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

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

See what an interviewer has to contend with.

Vocalists Dihan Slabbert and Nicolaas Swart

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nataniël and Spoegwolf in a different kind of performance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We’re all ready to try new things!”

And why not.

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

Book NOW at www.webtickets.co.za

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

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

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

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

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

LAST CHANCE TO CATCH THE GLOWING FIREFLY WITH SYLVAINE STRIKE, ANDREW BUCKLAND AND TONY BENTEL AT PIETER TOERIEN THEATRE

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Sylvaine Strike, director/actor/playwright and any other creative word one can dream up, teamed with three other brilliant creatives, Toni Morkel (director), Andrew Buckland (fellow actor) and Tony Bentel, musical genius to create the dreamily magical Firefly currently in its last week at the Pieter Toerien Theatre at Montecasino. Having seen it for the third time at the weekend, this is a copy of my original review to encourage anyone who hasn’t yet seen it, to go. It will warm your heart and the glow will last for the longest time.

DIANE DE BEER reviews: 

Scenes from Firefly with Sylvaine Strike and Andrew Buckland:

Pictures by Nardus Engelbrecht

I was blessed to see Firefly at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre with the emergence of live theatre following the pandemic.

The bewitching Firefly, which as one of the first Covid-19 impacted productions saw light of day as a Woordfees digital production, made a magically mesmerising transition. I had lost my heart earlier to the filmed production and was excitedly inquisitive at how that particular story – with many filmic tricks up its sleeve – would translate and transform on stage.

But this particular creative quartet (Strike, Andrew Buckland, Toni Morkel as director and Tony Bentel on piano) are the perfect combo. This is their theatrical landscape. Give them a stage and they will be telling stories in such an imaginative way, it becomes a visual feast.

Because they have all worked together, they understand each other’s strengths, and Morkel could stretch that piece of string intuitively with fantastically imaginative and explosive pyrotechnics.

Buckland and Strike are a brilliant blend of artistry with an instinct for detail that holds your attention gently yet persistently. Storytelling is their forte, aided by the fact that they have an endless supply of tools to draw on to embellish a wink or the final lift of a foot to express and underline the tiniest emotion.

It is theatre at its best when it has you smiling from start to finish because of the artistry, the wizardry of the production, the perfection of the coupling, and just the sheer audacity of the storytelling.

No matter how or why, just immerse yourself and see what happens when Saartjie Botha commands two artists to give her a production in the purest style of theatre.

If you have seen the digital version that’s  a bonus, because to witness how one story can be told in such magnificent splendour in two completely different approaches is truly special and quite rare. The one had all the bells and whistles and worked like a charm. But here, with Strike and Buckland live on stage with just themselves to grab hold of their audience and cast that spell, the essence of theatre comes into play – and again I willingly lost my heart.

Add to the two artists on stage, the magnificence of Wolf Britz’s set and props as well as starstruck-inducing lighting and the keyboard genius of Bentel’s soundtrack that holds every emotion so thrillingly in a familiar yet completely Bentel-constructed composition.

If you want to see how the best make theatre with their instincts, intuition and imagination, don’t miss the sparkling Firefly. Yet don’t think for one second that the miracle unfolding on stage didn’t come with buckets of blood, sweat, tears and ENDLESS talent. Part of the theatrical trickery of this foursome is to present something that is this skilled as seemingly effortless.

It’s brilliant and personally I hope to see this travel around the country casting its spell throughout. We are desperately in need of this kind of adult fairy tale in these tumultuous times.

And with every fresh viewing, they’ve added fresh insight and sparkle if that’s even possible.

Book at Webtickets for any of the shows from tonight until Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3 and 8pm; and Sunday at 2pm for their final bow.

THERE’S ENOUGH FOR THE BIG BIRDS IN THE KAROO AND KKNK FESTIVAL DOES THE SAME FOR PEOPLE

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Festivals, each one of them, are their own creatures. They’re put together in a way that hopes to attract audiences and once they’re there, will feed and nourish them in many different ways. That’s exactly what this year’s Klein  Karoo National Festival achieved and here are just a handful of reasons why. DIANE DE BEER gives her impressions of some of the best:

Pictures: Hans van der Veen

Picture (above) capturing the Karoo by Fahiem Stellenboom.

First the music productions:

Stylish simplicity of Woordmusiek staging.

Woordmusiek: One of the toughest  things is to keep a stage/performance career going. Coenie de Villiers knows this.

Stylish simplicity of Woordmusiek staging. (Van der Veen)

Especially on the music side. Even if someone like De Villiers is hugely popular, his music part of the Afrikaans lexicon, and his performance style slick and always smartly rehearsed.

It’s quite something to keep reinventing yourself, however. How long will an audience keep listening to the same songs done in exactly the same style and presentation?

Coenie de Villiers (Van der Veen)

De Villiers has always had the key to renewal: collaboration. And while that can also work against you because it can be seen as too gimmicky, he has the musical and performance nous to make it work – and in this instance, brilliantly.

With this one, he decided to focus on his lyrics. He cleverly invited three of our top actors, all with distinct voices – Jana Cilliers, Vinette Ebrahim and Antoinette Kellermann – to read his lyrics as if poems, which they are when done in this way. And in between, he performed his music, some with, and others without song.

Voices that opened vistas.

The staging was stylish without any frills, and guitar genius Mauritz Lotz provided another musical element – and voila, it was a sublime performance with not a note or sound out of place.

Anders/Eenders: a musical ensemble that sparkled. Each individual performer had his/her own style and together, they blend and cook musically.

There’s the superb songbird Sima Mashazi with the extraordinary voice and stage presence; African guitar genius Louis Mhlanga who is as gentle as his music is glorious; the exuberant Riaan van Rensburg on percussion; keyboard king Ramon Alexander; and brilliant producer/bass Schalk Joubert who always looks as if he is enjoying making music while finding the best sounds.

The fact that they all compose and perform their own music adds to the special sound they create as a group. It is the best of who we are, with music that covers the spectrum and tells stories that criss-crosses the country and holds us all together.

You walk out of there overwhelmed and bouncing with African rhythms. It’s a blast and so much part of the South African fabric.

Kanna for Best Presentation – music, sponsored by Castle Lager: Ver innie wêreld Kittie ; Kanna for Best Ensemble, sponsored by Kunste Onbeperk; Ver innie wêreld Kittie

David Kramer in conversation with Hugo Theart
David and André Terblanche.

Ver Innie Wêreld Kittie: It might be an intimate setting, but it’s a huge story with heart  – and one of David Kramer’s best. I loved the intimacy of the staging with only four dazzling actors/singers (Dean Balie, Rushney Ferguson, Jenny Stead and André Terblanche) and two musicians, Nick Turner and Yvan Potts.

In 1952, Doris Day and Frankie Lane had a hit with Sugarbush, which was apparently written by Josef Marais (the stage name of Joseph Pessach). Marais and his wife Rosa de Miranda became hugely successful in the US as a folk duo who sang Afrikaans songs translated by Marais into English.

Back home and much later, Kramer hears about Marais’s talent because these two musos both grew up in Worcester. But no one remembers Marais, except Renaye Kramer’s aunt Lily Lange who was courted in her youth by Pessach, who wasn’t considered a good enough catch by the family.

From left: , Jenny Stead , dean Balie, Rushney Ferguson, André Terblanche with David and KKNK CEO Hugo Theart.

Weaving all these stories together, Kramer adds meat to the story by telling a tale of appropriation, something which has long been a problem on especially the African continent. The performers, the staging, the story, the words, used very sparsely but specifically, and the way Kramer tells the story, all contribute to a magical musical affair.

As usual, Kramer has excelled in the casting, with this quartet bursting with talent. And keeping it small, hopefully this one will travel far and wide. It’s a universal story told with heartiness and honesty by performers who are world class.

And then theatre:

Kanna for Best Interpretation, sponsored by Wicus Pretorius: Dawid Minnaar – Mirakel

Dawid Minnaar in a delicious performance with a brave Bettie Kemp who sailed through the play brilliantly as a last-minute replacement.

I have to start with Reza de Wet’s Mirakel ,directed by by her close friend Marthinus Basson. This has always been a stage match made in heaven.

But I hadn’t realised that this was a play I had never seen – and what a delight with a darkness captured in the script. De Wet can be quite melancholy with stories that tear you apart as she scratches around in the psyche of her people.

The cast of Mirakel with a fully cooked dinner including roast lamb … every performance!

But here she looks at a theatrical touring group with a much more gentle eye as she captures all the stereotypes in what can be a very melodramatic world. All the world’s a stage and nowhere is this more true than here.

And Basson’s first masterstroke was the casting. Dawid Minnaar’s performance sets the tone and gives free rein to the rest of the cast as they all swing into over-the-top storytelling that will have you in stitches.

But what lingers is the toughness that is here hidden by play, the struggle to practise something that brings pleasure. The way we regard and value our artists and allow them the space to breathe and to grow. All of which in the long run will bring huge rewards.

The drama of a traveling theatre company.
The staging of Mirakel

I hope this can travel all over and play as many runs as can possibly be imagined. If ever you want to flee the problems of the present, this is where you want to go. It’s fun, it sketches a world we are all familiar with but perhaps not often part of and it allows the actors to go at it full tilt – and no one does it quite as deliciously and with so much relish (one can almost see him smacking his lips as he enters the stage) as Minnaar.

This is one I will cherish for a long time as the depth of what De Wet wanted us to contemplate lingers.

Kanna for Best Design and Technical Contribution, sponsored by Herotel: Craig Leo and Neil Coppen for the concept and design of Droomkraan Kronieke; For a second year running and deservedly so Herrie Prize for innovation or ground-breaking work, sponsored by Kunste Onbeperk: Karoo Kaarte

The enchanting cast of Droomkraan Kronieke stole hearts and more.

And as with Mirakel, similar things can be said of Karoo Kaarte’s Droomkraan Kronieke.

If anyone were wondering about the viability and sustainability of this dream project driven by Neil Coppen and Vaughn Sadie, they simply had to witness the leap this team has made in just a year following last year’s Op Hierdie Dag, which also received much praise, seven nominations and a win for artist Marinda Ntantiso.

This time they were aided by internationally renowned puppet master Craig Leo as well as actor Carlo Daniels, and the full team of actors worked much more in a cohesive unit, than the previous time.

It was a fun, emotionally fulfilling and rewarding experience as the actors displayed their performance skills, exuberance and energy and their growth in professional approach and execution.

This is a production that will play anywhere without any explanation needed of where they come from and who they are. That’s simply embellishment and heightens the admiration one feels for what they have achieved and the lives that are changed. Both for those performing and watching.

I wrote a huge piece on Karoo Kaarte last year (check for it in my blog if you want background), but it should also stand as a blueprint of how to make a festival (or any event) inclusive in an attempt to upend the status quo.

What Droomkraan Kronieke achieves more than anything else is to show and point to the potential right in front of our eyes and what happens when two artists (with the help of gracious donors and many other hands) can achieve with a community that has previously been held back and not given the opportunities.

Kanna for Best Director, sponsored by the ATKV Nicola Hanekom – Mirre en aalwyn; Kanna for Best Presentation – theatre, sponsored by the Het Jan Marais Nationale FondsMirre en aalwyn; Kanna for Best Literary Contribution, sponsored by NATi; Nicola Hanekom – Mirre en aalwyn (original script).

Leading the way, a heartbreaking performance by Amalia Uys.

Finally, Nicola Hanekom is back with yet another of her shattering site-specific pieces Mirre en Aalwyn, and as always she’s tuned into the zeitgeist, with abuse the one issue that has for many years grabbed the headlines. More  than ever, it is critical in communities worldwide and in South Africa in particular.

There’s hardly a woman who reaches adulthood who cannot speak of an incident and often worse that can be ticked off as abuse. (If anyone heard Trump’s recent monstrous ramblings, that says it all). And instead of things improving and more people taking up the cause, it’s as if people turn their heads away and ignore those talking too loudly.

Elzabé Zietsman is doing the festival circuit with her devastating solo Femme is Fatale and now Hanekom has also stepped into the arena with a piece that doesn’t flinch as they go full on to investigate this scourge in especially women’s lives.

And in this instance where it besets families and the women have no protection, no one to turn to, no positive role models, it’s almost as if they turn on themselves. It’s the only thing of value they have to display and that’s where they go. And to add to the dilemma, they have found a voice in social media where everything is amplified, not always in especially the vicitms’s interest.

Oudtshoorn with its spectacular weather and environment offers the perfect canvas and Hanekom has refined this gloves-off type of approach when dealing with tough topics.

Her cast, always handpicked with great care, tell a story that audiences have to hear, and Hanekom introduces enough darkness and light to hold the attention and make the most explosive impact.

If you don’t leave this one shattered, think again.

And watch out, it might be difficult to play somewhere else because it is site-specific, but when there’s a will, there’s a way. And for this one, that’s how it should be.

Until next year, meanwhile there’s the Karoo Klassique from 4 to 7 August later this year. Also check the next story on the fabulous art.

KENTRIDGE WIELDS HIS ARTISTRY TO SHINE THE LIGHT MAGNIFICENTLY ON THE FORGOTTEN BLACK FOOT SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY BUT WERE IGNORED IN THE WRITTEN HISTORY OF WORLD WAR ONE

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The Head and the Load is about Africa and Africans in the First World War.

That is to say about all the contradictions and paradoxes of colonialism that were heated and compressed by the circumstances of the war.

It is about historical incomprehension (and inaudibility and invisibility).

The colonial logic towards the black participants could be summed up:

“Lest their actions merit recognition,

Their deeds must not be recorded.”’

The Head and the Load aims to recognise and record.

           WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

Pictures supplied

SHOW: The Head and the Load

CONCEPT AND DIRECTOR: William Kentridge

COMPOSER: Phillip Miller

MUSIC DIRECTOR AND CO-COMPOSER: Thuthuka Sibisi

CHOREOGRAPHY: Gregory Maqoma

PROJECTION DESIGN: Catherine Meyburgh

COSTUME DESIGN: Greta Goiris

SET DESIGN: Sabine Theunissen

LIGHTING DESIGN: Urs Schönebaum

And the magnificent cast and musicians – with the African premiere dedicated to the original narrator Mncedisi Shabangu who sadly died last year.

DIANE DE BEER reviews:

And the top introduction by Kentridge gives you a pretty good idea of the load the artist, in many different disciplines, (and when not, he brings in others of his ilk) had in his head.

If you’re the one watching, it might just blow your mind. And if you’re familiar with his work, there’s much you will recognise as he often works with the same artists and combines original music with references to the period and composers of the time as well as texts, movement, shadow play and lighting.

You see a body marching in the distance (they use backstage for the performance because they need that length of space), and just the way he moves already tells you he is a dancer. But not any dancer, one of the best, Gregory Maqoma.

That’s how it runs all through the performers and the musicians. When I hear the brass sounds used in this specific way, it reminds me of the cacophony Emir Kusturica used in his war drama Underground to capture the sounds he associated with war.

And Philip Miller and Thuthuka Sibisi work similarly. They transformed traditional African songs as well as quotations from composers from the time of the war like Ravel, Hindeman, Satie and Schoenberg. It’s varied, as they mimic the different sections of the story, and the way the musicians and the singers use their voices is spectacular.

Just think of wind instruments. They’re used here in the true sense of the word. It’s as if the wind witnesses and blows silently through the space.

But let’s start at the beginning when the show starts. Performers have silently been slipping in and placing themselves inconspicuously in specific spots. And almost in one fell swoop, the giant screen, the lights and the cast come to life.

The audience, in touching distance, are instantly scooped up and almost thrown into the story and the action.

In one spot there’s the most exquisite Vermeer scene with bold Kentridge drawings and sketches, all heightened by the wonderful and magnified shadow play, while individual performers have all, as if magically wound up, started moving. And then the narrator starts with the tale.

Everything is part of the fabric, the texture, the mood and essence of the whole. It’s like a giant storytelling extravaganza yet this has no fairy-tale ending. There’s melancholia and war mania, and there’s the feasting on the foot soldiers as they are put to battle almost deliberately as war fodder. In one of the war reels, the African participants displayed in uniform are barefoot!

Kentridge puts the spotlight on World War One, but this time, he tells and shows it all. This he wants to record. And in full Kentridge splendour, he unravels and reveals everything he wants you to know. With this grand theatrical flourish he imprints the pictures and performances in your mind.

Having waited for Covid restrictions to be lifted to see the production, it has become even more relevant with first the Russian invasion of Ukraine and now also the frightening war in Sudan.

It’s impossible to take all the individual flourishes in and yet, it is an immersive theatrical experience which will linger and almost lay you low. But then the sense of wonder, the way of revealing the relentless horror and the sheer scale of the endeavour, are what keep swirling in your head.

Gauteng is blessed to have Kentridge in its midst and to witness this astounding theatrical avalanche so brilliantly composed and performed, which is – sadly –  as relevant today as it was in 1918.