CAST: Thimothée Chalamet, Odessa A’Zion, Fran Drescher, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler Okonma, Sandra Bernhard, Abel Ferrara
VENUES: Ster Kinekor
Marty Supreme is a star effort.
The theme of table tennis didn’t thrill me, so I skipped this movie until I heard an interview with the two stars, Chalamet and Paltrow. I was intrigued.
Then Paltrow came out of self-imposed retirement for her role, which also says something.
Chalamet impressed in Call Me By Your Name, but it was especially the Bob Dylan movie, A Complete Unknown, that caught my attention and that I loved. Paltrow has been away from the screen for some time, yet this role tempted her and she’s back.
It’s the story of Marty Mauser, a shoe salesman with an ambition to become a world star – by using his charm and his ping-pong skills. You have to meet this exuberant, frantically frenetic young man to run with his story. And run you do.
It’s not only the story, but it’s also the performance and the pace, which hardly allows you to catch your breath or debate the deals that are struck to get this young man to his first high-profile tournament in England. This is where he hopes to kickstart his dream of becoming the world champion.
And while Marty is scheming and dreaming all the way, it is as though he is constantly hanging by his nails from the 10th floor of an apartment building. Forget the image a table tennis tournament might call up in your psyche, it is the choices made by director Safdie that are the real star of the show.
Everything screams originality, and that’s where they really hook me. It’s the way this almost throwback grifter’s tale unfolds, unravels and then picks up speed again as Marty fixes or flinches his way through the latest calamity. It’s not that he means to cheat his way to the top; it’s that he believes if given the chance, he could really make it. It’s his belief that it is owed him that lends his enterprising jockeying the appearance of acceptability.
When he really wants something, he takes it. And then wiggles his way out of the latest precarious pickle he has singly manufactured to reach his dreams. He is never allowed to forget that he is trespassing in a world that shuns him. Yet, he pushes through.
The fact that Chalamet, with his superstar appearance, was cast is a stroke of genius. You need his talent to pull it off as an actor. They managed to downplay his dreamy, glamorous side, which makes a huge difference. It’s subtle but smart.
Paltrow also plays her part in a role that suits her to a T. She is old-time glamour, she doesn’t have to represent it. And, again, smart choice; it is one of her best performances as she takes risks and pushes boundaries, which she pulls off simply because of who she is – in the film and the real world.
Lots of contradictions there, but they make it work, especially in today’s world where everything is about appearances, who you are and whether you have money.
It is all the little things that add up to turn this into a story that’s fun, yet keeps the focus on the underlying serious issues. It could all have been a huge mistake, but because of the attention to detail, it works.
This is Safdie’s first solo effort as director. He had previously written and directed with his younger brother Benny as the Safdie Brothers before they decided that they wanted to follow their individual dreams. If this is how Josh launches his solo effort, his future is one to watch.
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)
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!
SOMETIMES I HAVE TO LEAN IN Choreographer & Performer: Alan Parker Director & Performer: Gerard Bester Dramaturg: Gavin Krastin Text (“Wallflower”): Gwydion Beynon VENUE: POPArt Theatre DATES: Today at 3pm
It’s difficult to let people know in time to catch one of the shows at Joburg’s POPArt, because they have short runs, but that’s also the purpose of their theatre. It’s for an easy yet discerning theatre crowd who like seeing something unusual and probably not available at a more traditional theatre. It’s one of the delights of theatre that it offers such diversity. And this particular venue is a great example. This present production has been around for a while starting as a commissioned work for Dance Umbrella in 2018 before playing at the Live Art Festival in Cape Town and most recently in 2024 for the National Arts Festival in Makanda. Gerard Bester and Alan Parker created this delightful physical theatre piece playing with ideas that possibly featured in their own lives as ageing performers which begins as soon as you pass through that first theatrical endeavour. Rather than focusing on age, it’s looking at two performers who have been in the industry for some time and are leaning in to find not only themselves and each other but also a way to be creative – not only on stage but also, hopefully in the world. There’s a sweetness and a melancholy to their approach which might seemingly come across as quite lowkey, yet delivers a strong emotional punch. It’s the unusual way they both move, sometimes leaning against a wall or in-between each other or simply trying their best to lean over while being held tightly by the ankles. It’s about bringing those emotions into the light so that you cannot resist embracing the storytelling as well as the performers. Perhaps co-director of POPArt, Hayleigh Evans says it best: once she saw it a few years back, she knew she had to present it at POPArt. It’s exactly right for this neighbourhood venue that’s easy to access, casual yet professional in its approach and yet another fabulous way to experience theatre at its most pleasurable. With Bester and Parker’s experience, their easy approach and their individually original style, it’s yet another way to access life and all the challenges thrown our way. Simply lean in!
CAST: Katlego Nche (Pinocchio); Gina Shmukler (Bella Bouboulina – the Blue Fairy); Sandi Dlangalala (Jiminy Cricket (Gepetto Spoletto); Lesedi Rich (Lampwick Spaghetti); Brenda Radloff (Madame Ill’Fortunato – The Fox; Camilla Waldman (Madame Pussy Galore – The Fat-Cat); Tiaan Rautenbach (Dame Arletti Spaghetti ); Mark Richardson (Senor Napolio Strombolio – (Puppeteer/Gambvling Lord/Donkey Pirate); Luciano Zuppa (Fiddelomino – Traindriver/Donkeydealer); Noluthando Mathebula (Dainty Dolly – a puppet); Dale Ray (Benny Basie Blue MD);and the ensemble of 15 performers
DATES: Until December 24
A colourful explosion.
Oh Janice! Why am I not surprised? This your 38th outing … I think? And you’re still pulling it off? There’s simply no end to your genius, is there?
I know you can do many other shows as well and you have the CV to prove that. But Gauteng audiences simply refuse to let you go.
Not only do you pull it off year after year, you also have the perfect team, led by Timothy le Roux, assistant director, who has introduced his own stage charm to the proceedings as well as holding on to all that panto knowledge you have imparted since those very early years.
Doesn’t matter when you go … as we did on a Sunday at noon. You simply pack them in … young and old, it doesn’t matter, they all love it. And I was sitting in the perfect chair to catch the show as well as the audience. They’re having so much fun it’s almost a show on its own.
The colours capture the emotions of the panto.
And there’s a reason for that. You have honed your skills through the years. You never sat back thinking you’ve made it. With each outing you set the bar higher.
You know how to cast, both the veterans and the fresh young things. They’re all rehearsed to an inch of their lives, yet there’s nothing mechanical. They, it seems, are having as much fun as the audience. Even on a day when they will be back in 90 minutes for a second show, it’s all systems go go go.
Let’s start with the costumes! Those colours simply smash it! It’s bright and cheery with a strong Italian flavour of green, red and white running through, but that’s augmented by the brightest brights so that every one on that stage is shining as bright as can be. It’s as happy as well as hip, which immediately sets the tone and the flavour of what’s to come.
A cast of colourful characters.
There’s the cheery Pinocchio (Katlego Nche) and his perky puppet friend (Noluthando Mathebula), Jiminy Cricket (Sandi Dlangalala) with the exquisite voice, the two foxy madames (Brenda Radloff and Camilla Waldman), so deliciously delightful, old hands Mark Richardson and Luciano Zuppa who skate through a cast of characters with ease, as well as another wise and wittty veteran Tiaan Rautenbach who knows how to dazzle as Dame Arletti Spaghetti – and how could you not with a name like that! There’s also Gina Shmukler’s sassy Bella Bouboulina, the Blue Fairy, and a supporting cast who bounce with the exuberant energy that keeps the audience on their toes.
Through the years the magic tricks as well as the sparkle and splendour have doubled in size and grandeur and expanded with advances in technology, but what Janice has done so magnificently is hold onto the spirit of the traditional panto.
Every year she enhances what could have become tired tropes. She adds all the necessary and unexpected dazzle, but her brilliance lies in her holding tightly onto the heart.
“It’s about how we become an ensemble, whether we are performers, audience members, or neighbours. It’s how the city performs itself through us, and also how we choose to perform the city. Johannesburg is a place that requires a collective navigation, a mutual reliance, a particular call and responses.” Neo Muyanga, Impressario of the Centre for the Less Good Idea in Maboneng.
Dancer Thulisile Binda
By DIANE DE BEER
The best would have been to attend all the evenings of the 11th season to experience the full impact of what co-founder and director of The Centre, Bronwyn Lace describes as a multi-limbed, complex organism which she believes is what the Less Good Idea has evolved into. “…our arms reaching into various directions but connected to the same robust body. It makes sense for us to share a season at the end of this year, because we have an abundance of new strategies, forms, and artworks to test, show, and celebrate.”
Pianist Jill Richards with vocalist Pertunia Msani.
And it certainly was all of that, exploding with a sense of creative abandon in two hours of exuberant performance which ranged from the glorious musically driven showcase by classically trained improviser Jill Richards who performed magnificently with the Benin drummer, percussionist, composer and arranger Angelo Moiustapha accompanied by the melodic voice of Pertunia Msaniiwith Marcus Neustetter’s digital storytelling adding yet another dimension to the experience. The musicianship was breathtaking.
It set the tone for what was to come as the audience moved to William Kentridge’s studio to experience a collection of mindblowing artists, starting with the spiritually immersive Vincent Mantsoe, one of our finest choreographers/dancers in one of his rare local appearances. Translike in his movement and tearing at the soul of those witnessing his deep level of engagement, the evening merged from one artist to another as Kentridge stepped from one stage to the next as he expressed his creativity with body and soul.
It was all about the merging of art and movement, Moving the Mark, as the event was titled, exploring the relationship between visual art and dance. What they wanted to achieve was to explore the relationship between these unusual pairings and what would emerge.
Vincent Mantsoe in action with percussionist Micca Manganye
How would the pure art of collaboration determine new creative decisions for an audience to experience and absorb? What happens when a dancer like Mantsoe mimics the ink stains of an artist like Kentridge, or from a different vantage, when the painter choreographs their brushstrokes?
Artist Penny Siopis took to the air in almost trapeze-like fashion, painting her canvas on the floor from up high while choreographer/dramaturg Shannel Winlock-Pailman worked her magic below in mesmerizing fashion, the two artists in total union while expressing their heightened emotions.
All the while, the musical accompaniment captured the experience of the moment, enveloping the audience in the round, some wrapped in black bags to protect them from the explosive expression of art as artists flung paint creatively with fearsome flair.
The Centre for the Less Good Idea is all about the collective voice expressed in collaborative pairings, artists who work in different mediums but have creativity and exploration that binds them, pushing the boundaries, trying different ways of making new work to excite themselves as artists while also challenging and stimulating audiences constantly searching for art and creativity exploring the evolving world we live in.
Curator Neo Muyanga (left) and Kentridge (right, in the left corner) choreographing with brushstrokes while Mantsoe is on stage following the moves.
It’s exciting when artists go beyond the expected, and are given free rein to explore their storytelling genres. How can they beat that drum differently? Given the chance to fail is often the best way to reach excellence but the restrictions are many. And more than anything, it is the encouragement to stretch far beyond the boundaries, to take that leap and to experience the beginning of experiments which are allowed to grow and flourish.
This first sold-out performance of the 11th season proved that the audience is willing and determined to experience artists moving the mark. The rest of the season sounded as extraordinary and my wish would have been to witness the full week of extraordinary creativity encouraged to dare to go beyond the expected.
How blessed are Gauteng audiences (who showed their appreciation) to experience these glorious experiments inspired and empowered by William Kentridge who could have staged them anywhere in the world. Kentridge gives us the opportunity to grow together and to expand our idea of what anything and everything is. Step into the void and see what happens comes to mind.
Like most things in life there are good and bad to small packages, but Aardklop CEO Alexa Strachan has turned her shiny Potchefstroom gem into a star through clever planning, a balancing act of note and enough variety to have everyone laughing and crying – with good food all over the place to boot. DIANE DE BEER speaks her mind:
My husband knows I’m a festival junkie (while he is NOT) but it is a personal indulgence and one that clearly nourishes.
This year was no different. Taking only a handful of my best, it’s not a difficult case to make.
Running down the alphabet as the festival guide does, it’s the overwhelming laughter that blew me away. I’m not a comedy girl so I didn’t know who Alfred Adriaan was but I screamed with laughter from start to finish and he was obviously a festival favourite in the packed auditorium.
With the name of Magda Louw (Desiré Gardner), one would think that I would remember that this is one of my favourite characters, but again, because of the comedy aversion, it just never surfaces. And yet, from the minute she walks on stage in her latest production, Magda Louw en haar Erhard, how Louw can you go?, this time with her husband Erhard (a delightfully Sad Sack performance by Hannes van Wyk), they just bowl you over.
What makes Magda so delightful to embrace is that she doesn’t go on the clichéd South African rant of potholes and politics, she has much more exciting things to deal with like the man constantly shuffling behind her as she leads the way at a faster pace and with much more rhythm, but the two ageing souls give you hope for the future as you realise that life is just a bowl of bubbles if you attack it in the right way.
On the other side of the spectrum there’s the magnificent solo debut by the extraordinary Wilhelm van der Walt, who unassumingly takes the stage and then reaching into a far too familiar past, given new perspective.
There was a time when I could hardly stomach another troepie tirade because it was so dominating in the country that it constantly surfaced on stage. What I realized this time round, is that Van der Walt himself probably never participated in this deadly exercise for so many decades part of our lives and there were certainly many young audiences who needs this insight on our past.
And if it is done with such magnificence, the flashbacks are worth recalling even if the past could be wished away.
How can anyone not be thrilled to experience Antoinette Kellermann and Dawid Minnaar on stage and in this instance in Breyten Breytenbach’s last play, Verwelkingslied, before he died. Although he dedicated the piece to Antoinette Kellermann and Marthinus Basson, she performed with her long-time stage partner Minnaar with Mari Borstlap as director on a set which was reminiscent of some of their earlier work together.
Minnaar is an eerily similar version of the poet in voice and image and immediately you can lose yourself in the meanderings of this philosophical and always poetic (almost) memoir. As the two actors take turns in monologue yet sharing Breytenbach’s feelings on death, one drifts away in the words so magnetic and the voice so penetrating, almost in dreamlike state, the actors and the audience.
The simplicity of the presentation is apt as it holds the depth and strength of the text so delicately. This is where we need the words to wash over us as an audience in almost immersive fashion.
I know that Amanda Strydom first mesmerized me with The Incredible Journey of Tinkerbell van Tonder and was eager to experience the performance all these decades later. Not that I can remember the detail, but with age of both text and performer, it’s as if everything has just found a warmer and gentler place to settle and lay her head down.
Finding your place in the world is a never-ending search and when you are fighting for freedom it is almost impossible – yet not when you’re Nelia Petersen who was handed the struggle together with mother’s milk.
It’s rigorous and robust with Strydom tackling the text and music with equal energy and exuberance. And all these years later, if anything, it is even more brittle and brilliant than before. I could watch this performance any day.
Belofte van Vere was our first production and yet another Breytenbach tribute but, once I witnessed the full cast on stage, they had my full attention. With the musically adventurous Laurinda Hofmeyr on piano, a rare singing appearance from the jazz-infused Ilse Klink, the genius muso Leon Gropp (guitar and voice), the soulful David Klassen (drums), a rhythmic Concord Nkabinde (bass) with the velvet voices of Rolanda Marais and Eben Genis, I knew I would be transformed. And I was.
Performers Eben Genis and Rolanda Marais
This exciting, gifted collection of artists would know how to do Breyten Breytenbach, without frills and fancy tricks, just delivering on their accomplishments and Breyten’s poetry and words. Anything else to my mind would have been unwarranted.
It’s my kind of show with my kind of people and poems. I needed nothing more. For me this was a Breytenbach celebration and I’m certain he would have been honoured.
Combining two dance companies, Cape Town’s magnificent Figure of 8 Dance Theatre who also performed their haunting tribute (Die Een Wat Bly) to the relationship between mothers and sons, the more expansive Wings of Light: Dance of an Angel returned dance to Aardklop in spectacular fashion. The music composed by Mauritz Lotz set the tone for an exquisite performance which showcased both classical and contemporary dance, the perfect rendition for an audience who might not often have the chance to see this kind of performance. It was a rare feat to stage this production and hopefully paved the way for similar ventures in the future.
Festivals have to walk a tightrope of not playing it too safe yet not antagonising their core audiences. With the large auditorium thé venue for one of our best comedians as well as two of the most exciting dance companies in the country, they managed just that.
There was also time to slip into the art venues, always something to cherish, and this time it was the festival Artist Jaco van Schalkwyk as well as a challenging group exhibition Vice Versa curated by artist Gwynneth Miller, all of which got the mind racing on a variety of contemporary issues. The renovated campus art museum also featured an exciting range of Nataniël pictures captured by his longest serving photographer Clinton Lubbhe
As an extra fillip, there was the celebratory concert of Nataniël and Charl du Plessis’s 25-year collaboration on stage. And as I had witnessed their initial first performances together, this was quite emotional.
To watch two stratospheric artists develop, dissect and model their artistry as they grow and stretch in different ways is unexpected and artistically adventurous.
There’s Du Plessis’s breathtaking exuberance and excellence on piano, the way he shifts between genres and his approach to his longtime stage companion. Nataniël again exhibits his stagecraft, flips easily from text to music, his stories hilariously funny with a hint of melancholy, or on the musical side, surprising everyone with his superb classical training which he hardly ever shares. They are an unbeatable combination with so many years of performance between them.
Aardklop features youth theatre with their Pronk Podium product, which this year invited its most successful writer/director/producer to present his latest work Doolhof together with the NWU Kampustoneel winner Diereryk directed and written by Pierre-André Viviers, cleverly based on Animal Far.
Every year I am thrilled and struck by the quality of the productions and everyone’s artistry involved. For future artists, this is unequalled training ground and for audiences the ideal opportunity to see how young artists tell their stories and what to expect in the future.
At future festivals, remember to watch out for this special section.
I could go on and on, I even made a turn at the market, something I never do, but I wanted to surprise my favourites at home with some specialty snacks.
As always it was a festival with feisty and fabulous fare on every level.
And the winners for the annual Aardklop festival awards are:
Best Actress: Elzabé Zietsman for Routrip
Best Actor: Wilhelm van der Walt for Seun
Best Director: Nico Scheepers for Seun
Best Overall Production: Seun
Award for most innovative work: The Scullery Quintet: Stir-fried Sonatas
Visual Art: Best Exhibition: Corpus Naturae, Jaco van Schalkwyk
Best Music-driven Production: Amanda Strydom: The incredible journey of Tinkerbell van Tonder
Best Classical Music performance: Road Trip Rhythms
Best Musical-driven performance: The Scullery Quintet
Hartsvriende Beste Produksie: Seun
Best new Afrikaans Script: Nataniël for NATANIËL + CHARL = 25
Best Production: Drama: Seun
Knockout Award: Alfred Adriaan: Positive Strokes
Extra Mile: Riaan Rademan (Technical project manager for Blond Productions)
Screened exclusively at Ster-Kinekor cinemas, with select livestreams at V&A Waterfront
Deborah Nansteel as Teresa, Nadine Sierra as Amina, Sydney Mancasola as Lisa, Xabier Anduaga as Elvino, and Nicholas Newton as Alessio in Bellini’s “La Sonnambula.” Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
It’s time for the 25/26 Met Opera season and what a spectacular worldwide season they’ve put together for the opera cognoscenti including South African opera enthusiasts.
This is the 18th Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts and will locally be seen exclusively at select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau cinemas.
With eight productions screening from this Sunday to mid-June 2026, the 2025-26 Live in HD season features one premiere, three new productions of much-loved operas and four revivals.
“With The Met: Live in HD productions screening in our cinemas, local audiences get to experience some of the world’s best-loved opera productions in a near-live situation, from The Met’s opulent stage to our big screens. The theatre-like setting enables cinemagoers to become an extension of the live production’s audience, making these world-class productions from the Met in New York accessible to anyone who enjoys and appreciates great opera,” says Lynne Wylie, chief marketing officer at Ster-Kinekor Theatres.
“What began as an experiment 18 years ago has become a staple experience for opera lovers all over the world,” said Peter Gelb, the Met’s Maria Manetti Shrem General Manager.
“Our 2025–26 season in cinemas reflects how opera is changing at the Met, where we’re balancing timeless classics with accessible new work that is advancing the art form and attracting younger and more diverse audiences.”
Don’t miss this world-class opera production, filmed and transmitted from the Met stage to the big screen at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor cinemas: Eastgate and Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg; Brooklyn in Tshwane; Watercrest in Hillcrest, KZN; Garden Route in George; Somerset in Somerset West; and Blue Route and V&A Waterfront (with live streams) in Cape Town. Loyalty card discounts apply, as does Ster-Kinekor’s Half-Price Tuesdays ticket price offering.
Bookings are open, with each production limited to two screenings only. Book your tickets now on the new-look Ster-Kinekor website at www.sterkinekor.com or download the new SK App on your smartphone. For news and updates, go to Facebook: Ster-Kinekor Theatres | follow Ster-Kinekor on Twitter: @Ster-Kinekor. For all queries, call Ticketline on 0861-Movies (668 437).
Here is the 2025-26 Met: Live in HD season at a glance, hold on to the programme for bookings:
Nadine Sierra as Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
La Sonnambula – Bellini (new production)
Screening dates: 02 and 04 November 2025 (3h 15min)
Music by Vincenzo Bellini | Libretto by Felice Romani
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Cast: Amina – Nadine Sierra; Lisa – Sydney Mancasola; Elvino – Xabier Anduaga; Rodolfo – Alexander Vinogradov
Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Nadine Sierra (seen in previous seasons of Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor) summits another peak of the soprano repertoire as Amina, who sleepwalks her way into audiences’ hearts in Bellini’s poignant tale of love lost and found.
In this new production, Rolando Villazón—the tenor who has embarked on a brilliant second career as a director—retains the opera’s original setting in the Swiss Alps but uses its somnambulant plot to explore the emotional and psychological valleys of the mind.
Tenor Xabier Anduaga co-stars as Amina’s fiancé, Elvino, alongside soprano Sydney Mancasola as her rival, Lisa, and bass Alexander Vinogradov as Count Rodolfo. Riccardo Frizza takes the podium for one of opera’s most ravishing works.
Juliana Grigoryan as Mimì and Freddie De Tommaso as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera
La Bohème – Puccini (revival)
Screening dates: 08 November (livestream at V&A Waterfront); 23 and 25 November 2025
(3h 29min)
Music by Giacomo Puccini | Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Conductor: Keri-Lynn Wilson | Production: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Mimì – Juliana Grigoryan; Musetta -Heidi Stober; Rodolfo – Freddie De Tommaso; Marcello – Lucas Meachem; Schaunard – Sean Michael Plumb; Colline – Jongmin Park; Benoit/Alcindoro – Donald Maxwell
With its enchanting setting and spellbinding score, the world’s most popular opera is as timeless as it is heartbreaking. Franco Zeffirelli’s picture-perfect production brings 19th-century Paris to the Met stage as Puccini’s young friends and lovers navigate the joy and struggle of bohemian life. Soprano Juliana Grigoryan is the feeble seamstress Mimì, opposite tenor Freddie De Tommaso as the ardent poet Rodolfo. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts the 08 November performance, which will be transmitted live from the Met stage to cinemas worldwide, including at Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
A scene from Strauss’s Arabella. Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Arabella – Strauss (revival)
Screening dates: 07 and 09 December 2025
(4h 12min)
Music by Richard Strauss | Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Conductor: Nicholas Carter
Cast: Arabella – Rachel Willis-Sørensen; Zdenka – Louise Alder; Matteo – Pavol Breslik; Mandryka – Tomasz Konieczny; Waldner – Brindley Sherratt
Strauss’s elegant romance brings the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna to cinemas worldwide in a sumptuous production by legendary director Otto Schenk that “is as beautiful as one could hope” (The New York Times). Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen stars as the title heroine, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms. Radiant soprano Louise Alder is her sister, Zdenka, and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.
Soprano Sonya YonchevaA scene from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera
Andrea Chénier – Giordano (revival)
Screening dates: 13 December 2025 (livestream at V&A Waterfront); 04 and 06 January 2026
(3h 31min)
Music by Umberto Giordano | Libretto by Luigi Illica
Conductor: Daniele Rustioni
Cast: Maddalena di Coigny – Sonya Yoncheva; Andrea Chénier – Piotr Beczała; Carlo Gérard – Igor Golovatenko
Giordano’s passionate tragedy stars tenor Piotr Beczała as the virtuous poet who falls victim to the intrigue and violence of the French Revolution. Following their celebrated recent partnership in Giordano’s Fedora in the 2022–23 Live in HD season, Beczała reunites with soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Chénier’s aristocratic lover, Maddalena di Coigny, with baritone Igor Golovatenko as Carlo Gérard, the agent of the Reign of Terror who seals their fates. Met Principal Guest Conductor Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to lead Nicolas Joël’s gripping staging.
Lisette Oropesa as Elvira in Bellini’s I Puritani. Photo: Paola Kudacki / Met Opera
I Puritani – Bellini (new production)
Screening dates: 10 January (livestream at V&A Waterfront); 08 and 10 February 2026
(3h 31min)
Music by Vincenzo Bellini | Libretto by Carlo Pepoli
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Cast: Elvira Walton – Lisette Oropesa; Lord Arturo Talbot – Lawrence Brownlee; Riccardo Forth – Artur Ruciński; Giorgio Walton – Christian Van Horn
For gorgeous melody, spellbinding coloratura, and virtuoso vocal fireworks, I Puritani has few equals. The first new Met production of Bellini’s final masterpiece in nearly 50 years – a striking staging by Charles Edwards, who makes his company directorial debut after many successes as a set designer – arrives in cinemas worldwide. The Met has assembled a world-beating quartet of stars, conducted by Marco Armiliato, for the demanding principal roles. Soprano Lisette Oropesa and tenor Lawrence Brownlee are Elvira and Arturo, brought together by love and torn apart by the political rifts of the English Civil War, with baritone Artur Ruciński as Riccardo, betrothed to Elvira against her will, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Elvira’s sympathetic uncle, Giorgio.
Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Photo: Paola Kudacki / Met Opera
Tristan und Isolde – Wagner (new production)
Screening dates: 05 and 07 April 2026
(5h 12min)
Music by Richard Wagner | Libretto by the composer
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Cast: Isolde – Lise Davidsen; Brangäne – Ekaterina Gubanova; Tristan – Michael Spyres; Kurwenal – Tomasz Konieczny; King Marke – Ryan Speedo Green
After years of anticipation, a truly unmissable event arrives in cinemas as the electrifying Lise Davidsen tackles one of the ultimate roles for dramatic soprano: the Irish princess Isolde in Wagner’s transcendent meditation on love and death. Heroic tenor Michael Spyres stars opposite Davidsen as the love-drunk Tristan. The momentous occasion also marks the advent of a new, Met-debut staging by Yuval Sharon – hailed by The New York Times as “the most visionary opera director of his generation” and the first American to direct an opera at the famed Wagner festival in Bayreuth, as well as Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first time leading Tristan und Isolde at the Met. Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova reprises her portrayal of Brangäne, alongside bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny, who sings Kurwenal after celebrated Met appearances in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Ring cycle. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes an important role debut as King Marke.
Soprano Asmik Grigorian A scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera
Eugene Onegin – Tchaikovsky (revival)
Screening dates: 02 May (livestream at V&A Waterfront); 17 and 19 May 2026
(4h 05min)
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Libretto by the composer and Konstantin Stepanovich Shilovsky
Conductor: Timur Zangiev*
Cast: Tatiana – Asmik Grigorian; Olga – Maria Barakova; Filippyevna – Stephanie Blythe; Lenski – Stanislas de Barbeyrac; Eugene Onegin – Igor Golovatenko; Prince Gremin – Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Following her acclaimed 2024 company debut in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, soprano Asmik Grigorian returns to the Met as Tatiana, the lovestruck young heroine in this ardent operatic adaptation of Pushkin, which will be transmitted live from the Metropolitan Opera stage to cinemas worldwide on 02 May, including at Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront, on 02 May. Baritone Igor Golovatenko reprises his portrayal of the urbane Onegin, who realises his affection for her all too late. The Met’s evocative production, directed by Tony Award–winner Deborah Warner, “offers a beautifully detailed reading of … Tchaikovsky’s lyrical romance” (The Telegraph).
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego – Frank (Metropolitan Opera premiere)
3 / 5
A set design by Jon Bausor for the Met premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.
Screening dates: 30 May (livestream at V&A Waterfront); 14 and 16 June 2026
(2h 48min)
Music by Gabriela Lena Frank* | Libretto by Nilo Cruz*
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Cast: Catrina – Gabriella Reyesl; Frida – Isabel Leonard; Leonardo – Nils Wanderer; Diego – Carlos Álvarez
A scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera
On 30 May, the Metropolitan Opera’s 2025–26 Live in HD season comes to a close with a live transmission (only at V&A Waterfront) of American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s first opera, a magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s painterly power couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Fashioned as a reversal of the Orpheus and Euridice myth, the story depicts Frida, sung by leading mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, leaving the underworld on the Day of the Dead and reuniting with Diego, portrayed by baritone Carlos Álvarez. The famously feuding pair briefly relive their tumultuous love, embracing both the passion and the pain before bidding the land of the living a final farewell. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Met-premiere staging of Frank’s opera, a “confident, richly imagined score” (The New Yorker) that “bursts with colour and fresh individuality” (Los Angeles Times). This vibrant new production, taking enthusiastic inspiration from Frida and Diego’s paintings, is directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker.
There are less than two weeks left to explore the 2025 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum, which closes on November 2, 2025. The exhibition features works from all 103 finalists, including the top seven award-winners and is quite magnificent. Don’t miss it!
“This is a must-see exhibition. The standard of entries this year was exceptionally high, showcasing the newest creative voices leading the next wave of South African visual art,” said Cate Terblanche, Curator of the Sasol Art Collection.
The 2025 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition attracted more than 900 entries from across South Africa. Juandré van Eck (Gqeberha), an Honours student at Nelson Mandela University, was announced as the overall winner for 2025 for his interactive ceramic installation titled Cycles of the Mind. The work captivated judges with its acoustic and meditative presence, and its poetic interplay of breath, water, and voice. Van Eck received a cash prize of R100 000 and is already conceptualising his solo exhibition, which will be showcased at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2026.
The Runner-up Award and R25 000 went to Thabo Treasure Mofokeng (Johannesburg) for Still Standing, a painting inspired by resilience in the face of adversity
The five Merit Award winners, each receiving R10 000, are:
Tammy Lee Baikie (Johannesburg) – Book Worms (mixed media)
Rebecca Louise (Beck) Glass (Pretoria) – Sell–Fish (etching)
Snelihle Asanda Maphumulo (Gqeberha) – Ngaphansi kwesithunzi sakhe (Under His Shadow) (sheep hide on canvas)
Sarah Volker (Gqeberha) – Taut, Tethered and Torn (ballet tights, stones, cement blocks)
“Sasol New Signatures continues to play a crucial role in discovering, nurturing, and showcasing the next generation of South African artists,” said Pfunzo Sidogi, Chairperson of Sasol New Signatures. “Each year, the competition provides an invaluable platform for emerging voices to share their perspectives, experiment boldly, and contribute meaningfully to the country’s vibrant visual arts landscape.”
Running concurrently with the New Signatures exhibition is the solo exhibition by Miné Kleynhans, winner of the 2024 Sasol New Signatures competition. Titled Augury After Autogogues, Kleynhans presents a speculative and satirical cosmos in which individual mystics, or “Autogogues,” use invented devices to divine meaning from the overload of media, relationships, and impressions. The works include Orbea kako-occultus, Abacus for Emotional Transactions II, State of Reproach, and Meditations on Resentment (her 2024 award-winning piece). Using a mix of wood, metal, 3D printing, resin, and found objects, Kleynhans constructs intricate instruments that blur the line between sincerity and satire. Through interaction, viewers are invited to ask: In a world saturated with information, how do we make sense of our own inner lives?
This year, the museum experience has been enhanced with QR codes placed beside each work, allowing visitors to access the artist statements for deeper insight into each creative process.
For audiences outside Pretoria or abroad, the entire exhibition, including all finalists and winners, can be viewed through a virtual exhibition hosted on the Sasol New Signatures website. The digital gallery replicates the in-museum experience, ensuring that art lovers everywhere can engage with South Africa’s most exciting emerging talents.
With only two weeks remaining, now is the perfect time to visit in person or online and experience the freshest voices shaping the future of South African art. Don’t miss out on the fantastic art by our future masters of the local art world.
Exhibition Details
Venue: Pretoria Art Museum, corner Francis Baard & Wessels Streets, Arcadia Park, Pretoria Dates: Until November 2, 2025 Museum Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:00 (closed Mondays and public holidays) Virtual Exhibition:www.sasolsignatures.co.za
Paul Slabolepszy is one of our most prolific artists, as both playwright and actor. To her surprise, DIANE DE BEER only recently discovered that there are two amazing artists in this family and caught up with both at the closure of Carol Slabolepszy’s latest exhibition:
I first became aware of sculptor Carol Slabolepszy when I went to view a painting exhibition at the Association of Arts Pretoria and discovered what I later learnt was Carol’s exquisite collection titled My Hares and Graces.
I was enchanted and completely unaware that someone I only knew as actor Paul Slab’s wife was such an amazing sculptor. And when I say knew I mean that, having seen her for decades accompanying Paul to plays, she was familiar to me.
But now that I have been blessed to meet another artist in the family, it was a delight to find out more about this creative couple’s life. This is Carol’s second creative endeavour. She spent seven years dancing professionally with CAPAB and PACT Ballet in her early years and it was during this time that she met her husband of 40 plus years. They also have three children.
She has always had an artistic bent but with a burgeoning family what also motivated her was to be economically active. She decided to study art as a mature student, and it took some time for her to find her true passion, sculpting. “I was painting at the time and, while I was a good painter, I wasn’t an extraordinary painter.” She wanted to do something she could reproduce while working in a way that would be, for her, more cutting edge.
Where she has found her niche is in the animal kingdom, specifically with her magical hares Although there’s also the rest of her ever-growing menagerie – she makes the most wonderful cats, Pangolins, and Meerkats, a few specific dogs, sometimes for a mourning pet owner. But when you witness her husk of hares (14 different ones), you can’t help but lose your heart.
It all began when she was looking for something that was manageable in size due to space constraints but, ever practical with a specific goal in mind, it should be able to travel easily. She also invests in narrative and has strong and happy memories of the Karoo and seeing hares darting in the car headlights at night.
While the hares are all part of a series, each one is made individually and implanted with its very own microchip with an identity number and a letter of authentication. “They don’t just pop out of a machine,” she says. But that is easily visible when you encounter this lively bunch.
Each one has its own personality and name: Lalela – The Listener, Moongazer, Ready Steady… Go!, Hare Apparent, Mvundla (isiXhosa for hare), Cambalele (isiZulu for sleepy and relaxed), uNogwaja (isiZulu for hare), Mpho (isiZulu for gift), uMoya (isiZulu for spirit), Thinker, Nwaya (isiZulu for itch) and Matasatasa, (isiZulu for busy), Bheka and Dancer.
And that’s exactly what first catches your attention. These are hares with identity and probably that’s how they find their rightful owners. And that doesn’t seem a problem for Carol. Her latest consignment is for a Belgian Gallery which has ordered 98 sculptures. What caught their attention were these hares with souls!
A percentage of the sales of her hares is donated to the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Riverine Rabbit Project.
But this is by far not the end of her reach. Do yourself a favour and browse through her My Hares and Graces website. (https://myharesandgraces.co.za) Don’t miss her archives and see that you scroll right to the bottom to catch a glimpse of her own favourite ‘canvas’.
She describes it as “painting/quilt/castle/cave/mosaic/river/mountain sculpture. Four stone masons became my paint brushes together with a man making the cement (doing the rough stuff) while I directed them and put some pieces of stone in myself, here and there. The making of this Wall gave me enormous pleasure and gives me pure joy looking at it. I don’t have a seascape or a mountain scape but this canvas is as close as I can get and it constantly changes with the light of the day. When it rains the water flows over it like a waterfall.”
I was delighted to discover the sculptures of Carol Slabolepszy and to see the majestic range of her art was magnificent and just adds to the richness of this artist’s creativity.
Because of my strong ties with local theatre, it was Paul whom I contacted to express my surprise about discovering Carol’s work. We arranged to meet when they came to fetch her sculptures following the closure of the exhibition.
He was also on my list for a chat because his latest smash hit Bitter Winter is due for a run at both the Hilton Arts Festival (August 8 – 10) and Potchefstroom’s Aardklop (October 7 – 12).
I loved the play when it made its debut in Joburg last year, and like everyone else, raved about the production. What Paul did so cleverly was to write about something (as he always does) that he knows intimately – two actors auditioning for a play.
It was written during Covid, a scary time for everyone but especially in the acting world, which is a precarious career choice without something like a pandemic adding to their often tough livelihood.
As he tells it, it was a talk by Lizz Meiring in her role as warrior for the Theatre Benevolent Fund that started his mind racing on this latest play. He is part of the ageing theatre community and is aware of just how difficult it is to make a living from the arts.
He also knows how scary auditions can be. “It’s not just something you can switch on,” he says of performance. “And as you walk in you spot another actor who is perfect for the part you’re hoping for.”
But still, they learn to deal with the fear and how to work a situation. And it is exactly this that Bitter Winter deals with.
As I wrote in my review, (https://bit.ly/4jPBGy9 ) anyone who knows about theatre recognizes this daunting yet challenging situation. Yet not many of us are faced with this particular hurdle every time we need to work.
And while actors simply have to accept and work with their fear, as we also know, there’s not that much one can do to alleviate those jangling nerves in what can only be described as a heightened experience which comes around every so often.
Starring Andre Odendaal (pictured right), Oarabile Ditsele (left) and Chantal Stanfield, Bitter Winter is an extremely clever play on many levels. It’s something everyone can relate to. And that has always been Paul’s gift.
There’s a raw but real quality to his storytelling in a language that he has shaped and refined in his own special.
Watching and listening to him talk, I think of his enthusiasm and excitement over the years. Whether on or off stage, he remains exactly who he always is. Thrilled about this latest success, he can hardly wait to tell me that he is already busy writing a new play.
Titled Midnight in Parys, Paul describes it as a thriller, and as with most of his work, he reaches into his past, something he remembers, and comes up with a play that touches audiences because of its authenticity and its characters who seem to represent people we know.
My curiosity was rewarded and all I wish for this creative couple is that they never stop dreaming. I know they never will.
De Beer Necessities 