Category: Theatre

The Theatrical Side of Season 2 of The Centre For The Less Good Idea

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Pics by Stella Olivier

Kgomotso Moncho-Maripane

Guest Writer

 

Gerard_portrait credit Stella Olivier
Gerard Bester

Gerard Bester describes his role as Associate Director for Season2 of The Centre for the Less Good Idea as dealing with one’s own ego and insecurities.

“It goes in waves, sometimes one feels useless and awful, other times one feels charged and creative,” he says.

It would be forgivable for a theatre enthusiast to romanticise the process in their minds because Bester, together with Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Mwenya Kabwe are theatre geniuses. The three of them drive the theatrical elements for the centre’s second season happening in Maboneng from tomorrow until Saturday.

Launched in March, the Centre is very much about process and exploring secondary ideas that come up when cracks and fissures occur in the initial big idea. It nurtures artists in finding the less good idea, and creates and supports experimental, collaborative and cross-disciplinary arts projects, over two seasons every year.

Founded by William Kentridge in November 2016, it provides a space for short form work whose life does not necessarily belong in a theatre or a gallery.

The first season, curated by performance poet, Lebo Mashile, choreographer/dancer, Gregory Maqoma and young director and playwright, Khayelihle Dom Gumede, pushed the boundaries of alternative spaces and language.

The second season is heavily nuanced by the collision of art and technology as brought in by co-curators, Tegan Bristow; Nhlanhla Mahlangu and urban culture entrepreneur, Jamal Nxedlana.

Bristow is an interactive media artist, lecturer at the Digital Arts Division of the Wits School of the Arts and co-founder of the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival. She curated the Post African Futures exhibition for the Goodman Gallery in 2015 out of her research into technology, art and culture in Africa. She’s a supporter and an active player in the futurist movement that is characterising the African arts landscape right now, where science fiction and African futurism are not only themes but the approach, and technology is a medium for creating art. It is art that interrogates the present and shows history’s intrinsic link to the future.

Mwenya_portrait credit Stella Olivier
Mwenya Kabwe

Bristow invited inventive theatre maker and academic, Mwenya Kabwe as part of over 40 Johannesburg based multi-disciplinary practitioners involved in this season.  What they came up with laid the foundation for the sprouting of ideas that came after.

“One of the first conversations that Tegan and I had was about a series of short descriptive futuristic African worlds that I had written for a research project. She liked how they dealt with time and space and for their visual quality. These got called on quite early in the first brainstorming session for Season 2, as points of inspiration to launch from,” Kabwe explains.

She also collaborates with Bristow and musician Cameron Louis Harris, on an interactive performance piece called Jacaranda Time, performed by dancer/choreographer Sonia Radebe and actor Namatshego Khutsoane.

But her shorts are linked to the bigger story of Edward Nkoloso, a Zambian grade school science teacher in the 1960s, who around Zambia’s independence, established a space academy with the objectives of space travel. His story was made popular in urban culture by photographer Cristina de Middel and Ghanaian filmmaker Frances Bodomo’s short film, Afronauts. It’s a story that resonates deeply with Kabwe (who is Zambian herself) which she presents in a production of A Zambian Space Odyssey.

“Edward Nkoloso is presented in the world as a parody in slightly foolish ways of space travel, but he is also being reclaimed as a revolutionary whose metaphor for Zambia’s independence meant literally soaring to new heights and reaching the moon.  A Zambian Space Odyssey is a live proposal in reading him in these two different ways,” says Kabwe.

Known for her experimental, workshopped and directed theatre and performance work, it is her form of writing that she is experimenting with here.

Nhlanhla Mahlangu credit Stella Olivier
Nhlanhla Mahlangu

In addition to curating, Mahlangu, who worked on the first season as one of the musical directors, gets to showcase his seminal solo work, Chant, directed by Bester.

Mahlangu’s ingenuity as a musician sets him apart as a dancer/choreographer and performer. Bester, a performer who’s been called a “Post Modern Anti Hero Character” due to his innate connection to movement and ability to break the fourth wall when engaging an audience, comes also with his arts administration experience.

The two met 20 years ago when Bester was managing a programme Mahlangu was part of as a student and they have worked together ever since. They now revisit Chant, which premiered at the Julidans Festival in Amsterdam where it was commissioned in 2011.

The work is Mahlangu’s ode to the women who raised him.

“Nhlanhla has this extraordinary, rich memory and connection to his own history that speaks beyond the personal. What was an important realization when revisiting the work, was how to really honour the skills that Nhlanhla has and to distill each of those. There’s a new emotional intensity to the piece and the idea is to connect and to hold on to that,” Bester says.

The word Chant and the force behind it is a constant motif in Mahlangu’s work with other titles including The Worker’s Chant and Gqisha! The Chant That Calls, a collaboration with Dom Gumede.

“For me the chant is the literal and the metaphor of the constant endlessness of blackness and struggle. A chant is an endless song that you sing until your body goes into an altered state of consciousness. My work is driven by music and a chant is how I look at black lives, history and future,” Mahlangu explains.

He’s also created a piece inspired by Kabwe’s series of shorts with the music and score based on children’s games that black kids grow up reciting at school and playing in the streets.

“There are deep-seated political connotations to these children’s games and I’m highlighting those,” says Mahlangu.

For more info on the programme and bookings for Season 2 of the Centre for the Less Good Idea (October 11 – 14) visit www.lessgoodidea.com

 

 

 

 

PS: Afterthought …

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DIANE DE BEER

 

Nataniel costume

 

Nataniël has just finished his annual season at Emperor’s celebrating his 30 years as a solo artist with a season of 30 Years, 90 Minutes: Nataniël Celebrates 3 Decades On Stage.

One of my treats during these 30 years, has been revisiting a production towards the end of a run.

Because his shows have always been dense both visually and in content, review nights were particularly tense for me. This second time round, without stress, is my particular penchant.

I am not just inhaling and observing a one-off season, but one that has been 30 years in the making, was particularly informative and revealing about his creativity, his innovation and imagination.

That’s the way to do it! “I don’t want to bore people with one thing after another of the past,” he said. This was not going to be a best of…

What it was however was an insight into his mind, his personal favourites and a showcase of what he does best starting with his songs and his stories and then everything that he builds and layers around that.

The arrangements of the cover songs he sang, You’re My World by Cilla Black and Lately by Stevie Wonder ( a song he wished he had written, so perfectly it suits his voice) among others, were completely delicious as was some of his own music like Fall which he described as his personal favourite of what he titles his no-hit wonders!

Nats1

His voice has matured magnificently and he is completely comfortable and confident and  enhances his distinctive voice with the additional sounds of Dihan Slabber and Nicolaas Swart. And he is joined by a spectacular band led by Charl du Plessis (keyboards) and completed by Jean Oosthuizen (guitars), Hugo Radyn (drums) and Werner Spies (bass) who have worked with him for a very long time which means they can push the boundaries- and they do.

It’s a complete package that holds the rest of the show in a soundscape that runs through all the emotional hefts of a Nataniël story. And this was a show of single stories, each one a showcase of this master at spinning a yarn that has you screaming with laughter yet leaves you with a moment of melancholy that runs deep.

He tells a tale of a vision that he was holding on to while making  a truck-load of paper flowers. The repetition of the task was offset by what they were hoping to achieve – only to fail disastrously. Then comes the question. “What happens to you when the most beautiful thing you have ever seen is only real in your imagination? You go mad…”

And then it all becomes clear. The set that has been constructed on stage from the start of the show, is this particular image and with Nataniël’s extraordinary lighting abilities (he changes his costumes instantly with the colour and angle of the lights), he achieves exactly that. Not only for himself though, it’s also a vision for his audience. And it starts with what might seem a silly story about student escapades!

He speaks about extraordinary people doing ordinary things. But he constantly presents us with what seems ordinary – only to surprise us with wonderful stage wizardry.

That is the wonderment of his craft. And why it has been such bliss to watch the growth and explosive evolvement of this artist and his shows. It is a completely immersive adventure as you step into this fantasy landscape once that first note comes at you, usually from a darkened stage which reveals itself.

His shows are always that – a slow reveal.

Yet nothing is slow about his costumes (designed by Floris Louw) that glitter and dazzle, not in the expected fashion though and more Louis IV than Liberace.

This was his final curtain – for now – after 15 years at this venue, and he wanted to leave in style – which of course he did, powerfully.

He also wanted, in typical Nataniël style, to easily segue into his next venture, a smashing book on his costumes called Closet, to be released on October 9. His latest TV series also starts this week on Wednesday, Edik van Nantes 3 on DStv’s kykNET (144) at 8pm with repeats following.

So while he’s stepping off the big stage for just a moment, he leaves you with marvelous memories.

Thirty years of uniquely Nataniël performances have done that. He truly is a national theatrical treasure.

There’s still a chance to catch the show for some: Opera House, Port Elizabeth: 20 and 21 October; and Sand du Plessis, Bloemfontein; 26 to 28 October:

Theatre students from the UK and SA are saying it for themselves – on stage

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DIANE DE BEER

 

It’s time to update this story which is moving into its immediate end phase. There will be more lasting benefits that linger. I first did this interview approximately a month ago in time for the local performances which I witnessed and now the South African students are on their way to Britain for the performance with ODDMANOUT theatre company, in Darlington, UK. I’ve added current details with impressions of the show as well as kept the relevant info on this amazing showcase for a group of young local storytellers. To hitch a ride with this savvy group, know that the theme focusing on young women and their particular problems and potential was chosen long before this current worldwide focus on #me too in the wake of the Weinstein scandal with others tumbling out at the rate of knots:

Picture: Craig Chitima

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Darlington Khoza, Boikobo Masibi, Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi, Ncumisa Ndimeni and Mathews Rantsoma

Walking into one of the Market Theatre’s new-ish rehearsal spaces in Newtown (more than a month ago), I’m confronted with one of the rehearsals for the latest Market Lab collaboration, Encountering the Other, with ODDMANOUT theatre company, in Darlington, UK.

Twelve young people, six from South Africa and six from North East England,  were in the process of coming together in a few days to create a production exploring the realities and possibilities of young women in the current moment in a global context.

But before they got there, the two groups worked separately in their respective countries  creating as much work as they could through their specific processes which in the Lab’s case was mostly improv. “I think where our processes are very much movement based, the UK works much more from a text based space,” explains The Head of the Market Theatre Laboratory, who is also a director on the project, Clara Vaughan. And she confirmed this once the two groups started working together to shape the final product.

Supported by British Council Connect ZA, it is a creative partnership involving both live and digital performance and a coming together of young actors from different countries who can learn from each other both socially and artistically.

And having watched a bit of what the South African Lab students were doing while rehearsing, I know that their enthusiasm, their particular skill sets and their improv abilities would bring extraordinary energy to the project. I did in fact have to check whether this really was improv while watching.

And in the final production, the two groups coming together is so fascinating because of their different approaches and where they come from. The universality of these youngsters’ world is what they worked with most strongly as they played off each others particular energy.

This project came from a strong sense of the shared values of the two organisations: The Market Theatre Lab describes themselves as a creative hub supporting the development and emergence of talented young theatre-makers and contemporary, socially engaged, experimental performing arts.  And having witnessed their work through the years and the graduates moving on to further enrich our theatre landscape, what they’re doing works brilliantly.
ODDMANOUT was established by North East England theatre-makers, Scott Young and Katy Weir to create work with a strong focus on stories of social change and theatre with story-telling at its heart.

And so the twain met.

In the selection of actors who auditioned, the South African contingent split into an equal gender mix, three men and three women: Ncumisa Ndimeni, Mathews Rantsoma, Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi, Darlington Khoza, Tumeka Matintela and Boikobo Masibi.

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Ncumisa Ndimeni, Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi, Mathews Rantsoma , Boikobo Masibi, Darlington Khoza and Tumeka Matintela

“We simply selected them according to the best auditions,” notes Vaughan. But what that particular mix meant in the rehearsal context, is that both the women and the men benefited in particular ways while exploring issues. “The women for example were surprised that the men had as many body issues as they did,” she says. It also meant that the men were much more aware of sounding sexist. “But we’ve tried to create the safety of a playful environment which will encourage everyone to participate and learn,” explains Vaughan as she includes her fellow director Jacques De Silva.

Because the British contingent were all women it also meant that the three South African men added a distinct flavour to the piece representing both genders while focusing on female issues.

Following two performances of Encountering the Other locally last month, the South African team fly to the UK on Friday (November 17), to host a series of workshops on specifically South African theatre-making techniques with the budding actors from the North East of England. This will be followed by a one-off performance of Encountering the Other at the newly restored Darlington Hippodrome on 27 November.

And they should knock their audience’s socks off. They did ours!

And says Clara Vaughan, the shows with mainly young audiences went fantastically and the Q&A sessions afterwards were vibrant and exploratory.

When last we spoke, she was hoping to make a detour to London for these first-time travelers but she had to find funding. Contact her urgently at clara@marketlab.co.za if you can help.

 

 

Aardklop pumping with innovation, imagination and creative possibilities

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DIANE DE BEER

With arts festivals still being the surest thing for many actors in this country, many of our best plays are premiered at these events before they start touring to mainstream theatres.

This year’s Aardklop (Potchefstroom’s annual festival from 2 to 8 October) while Afrikaans-driven, has many options for everyone simply interested in the arts and tehatre. An understanding of the language helps with a wider choice of course, but here are a few options worth checking.

Innovation is always part of a festival, and one of the most exciting is a one-on-one theatre experience that opens up all kinds of possibilities.

DEURnis is a one-on-one site-specific theatrical production with a very intimate yet cutting-edge and experimental approach. It involves a single audience member  who views three separate dramatic pieces per package (there are four different ones to choose from), with each of these having one performer and one audience member.

Each piece is is approximately 20 minutes long and written for a particular room/space in a house, so as a viewer, you move from one room to the next to see your three chosen plays.

It is the social issues that permeate the different works that affect individuals in different ways depending who you are. And for those who aren’t interested in gimmicky theatre, that’s exactly the trap they have avoided by aiming for excellence and substance in the texts.

“We have been inundated by people interested in writing for this venture,” says Johan van der Merwe, who with Rudi Sadler has started a production company Theatrerocket responsible for this exciting and well-executed concept.

They understand that the control has to be constant to see that everything works superbly. And as they had many plays to choose from, they have managed to execute their strict code.

It’s a fascinating experience, being the only one in the room in situations with a stranger telling a story that is often inclusive (never intrusive) but affects you as the viewer in very specific ways.

This is not a financial venture for the company. With only single actors and audience members, the numbers don’t add up. But because of the way it has been done, the performance experience the actors (at this stage mostly young) accumulate can’t be calculated. And chatting to a few of them in-between performances, they are equally thrilled by how much they are learning in the process. “Each performance is different because of the reaction of the individual viewing,” says one performer.

Having sat through a day of all of the plays (even a cabaret included), it doesn’t matter which package you choose. They’re all extremely well crafted and in sometimes scary ways, fun to experience. I loved it and more than anything, it is a concept with great potential. Personally I can’t wait to see how Theatrerocket is going to grow and expand this novel experiment.

One of their current quests is to find some older actors who want to participate. “It’s been a problem because most of them have families and the money isn’t the motivating factor here,” explains Van der Merwe.

Among the other shows and events to check out, including their searing production of Reuk van Appels, are the following:

  • The visual arts always feature strongly at this festival. With the title Saamklop (roughly translated as togetherness), it deals with South Africa’s rich history of collaboration, community engagement and artistic freedom. The focus is on artistic collaborations and community art projects exhibited together in a curated exhibition that spans many venues. Participants include the Bag Factory, Keleketla Library, The Found Collective, The Dead Bunny Society, NIROX Foundation Trust, The Artist Proof Studios and the Centre for the Less Good Idea, a William Kentridge initiative. A broad range of artworks, including paintings, drawings, videos, live performances, workshops, poetry and experimental new media projects will be on show. It’s worth traveling for. Curator (from Pretoria) Dr Johan Thom highlights the vital, creative role of community projects and artistic collaborations in contemporary South Africa’s art scene.
  • If you haven’t yet seen Pieter-Dirk Uys do either an Afrikaans or English version of his (in essence) life’s story, The Echo of a Noise, tick that box.  “I allowed myself to investigate the story behind the stories,” he explains.
  • A mover and shaker on the musical front, Charl du Plessis has two noteworthy productions. Stemme vir Môre (Voices of Tomorrow) combines the voices of Noluvuyiso Mpofu (soprano) and Bongani Kubheka (bass baritone) with Du Plessis on piano and features opera highlights. With Veertig Vingers (pictured) which points to four sets of hands, he creates a musical storm. Joining him on keyboards are Elna van der Merwe, Albie van Schalkwyk and Pieter Grobler as they perform favourite tunes from the classical, pop, jazz and rock genres.
  • For those who are au fait with the language, some theatre highlights include the Marthinus Basson directed Asem and Melk en Vleis; Dawid Minnaar in Monsieur Ibrahim en die blomme van die Koran; Weerkaats starring Milan Murray; Klara Maas se Hart is Gebreek, ensomeer: Die Vloeistoftrilogie with Wessel Pretorius, David Viviers; Nêrens, Noord-Kaap starring Albert Pretorius, De Klerk Oelofse and Geon Nel; and Elize Cawood and Wilson Dunster in Mike en Mavis (pictured).

There are more details about the festival or shows available at http://www.aardklop.co.za. Tickets at Computicket.

“The Alchemy of Words” plays with different disciplines creatively

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DIANE DE BEER

alchemy of words

Photographer: Dee-Ann Kaaijk

After premiering with a sold-out run at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Naomi van Niekerk’s The Alchemy of Words will be touring Southern Africa: landing in Johannesburg at the Market Lab’s Ramolao Makhene theatre from Thursday to 1 October, on 5 and 6 October at Cape Town’s Theatre Arts Admin Collective, 11 October at CCFM in Maputo and on October 14 and 15 at the Etienne Rousseau Theatre in Sasolburg.

Arthur Rimbaud, says Van Niekerk, for those who don’t know, is regarded as the ‘enfant terrible’ of French poetry who published his first immortal poem at the age of 16 only to completely abandon writing poetry at the age of 21! During this short period he managed to create a body of work that has had a profound impact on the poetry of his own time and on that of the 20th Century. André Breton, Dylan Thomas, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith and Jim Morrison are some of the artists and musicians that have been influenced by his writing.

Who is this literary pioneer and creative genius who continues to receive letters from fans all over the world even 123 years after his death?

I am now making myself as scummy as I can. Why? I want to be a poet, and I am working at turning myself into a seer… The idea is to reach the unknown by the derangement of all the senses. It involves enormous suffering but one must be strong and be born a poet… – Arthur Rimbaud, 1871.

In The Alchemy of Words, three artists from different disciplines –puppetry, film and music – search to capture the enigma of this French poet and what it means to be a pioneer. It aims to be an immersive experience that combines artistic projections, puppetry and live music inspired by the diverse imagery from Rimbaud’s poems – smoke filled battlefields, the lush countryside of the French Ardennes, colourful vowels, crimson seas and more.

Naomi van Niekerk

Van Niekerk’s personal affinity to Rimbaud started when she studied for three years in a small town in northern France, Charleville-Mézières which also happens to be the birth town of Rimbaud. His face is everywhere and all the shops are named after him. “I discovered his poetry and started translating it from French with a dictionary (as part of learning the  language) and was intrigued though I never really got into it, it was too complex!”

If you have seen any of Van Niekerk’s collaborations, you will know that she works in a unique way. “I don’t describe or see myself as a theatre-maker. I’m an artist and performance is one of the mediums I work with,” she explains.  “I’ve always been working in many mediums such as scenography, puppetry, filmmaking and most recently printmaking. I was always drawn to shadow puppetry because it fits into a frame like a graphic novel and within that frame anything is possible. My light box gives me the same freedom – to create a world in a frame without needing too much. In my case some sand, cardboard and scissors… I also love to draw, its an obsession that started when I studied in France and could not speak French, it was a way of communicating ideas and absorbing new experiences.”

Experiencing her work on stage is like seeing many different artworks appear and disappear as you watch them being made.

partners at play

With The Alchemy of Words, she collaborates with two artists, composer Arnaud van Vliet (a regular collaborator) and puppeteer Yoann Pencolé, someone she studied with in France. It wasn’t an easy process because of living on different continents, but Van Vliet who is also the dramaturge of the piece, selected a series of Rimbaud poetry and set it to music. During a short time together in June (just before the National Arts Festival where the piece premiered) Pencolé and Van Niekerk would work out scenes which Van Vliet would see in the evenings and critique. “The music existed before we started and so did many of the projected imagery. Our challenge was to create a narrative thread,” explains Van Niekerk.

While she is currently hooked on film, she enjoys working in different mediums and the one feeds off the other. “With theatre it feels like I’m taking my prints/drawings off the gallery walls and into the street, making it accessible to a broader public than the elite Fine Art community. Theatre is a shared experience that happens once, within a specific framework of time. The performance then continues to exist in the memory of the audience.”

She believes that The Alchemy of Words has wide appeal. “Some people connect with the words of Rimbaud’s poetry, others enjoy the visuals and the music and we’ve had some fantastic responses from children as well. Anyone who would like to engage with imagery and poetry on both emotional and intellectual level, should see it.”

“This is one of my goals – giving the public a memory that they can linger on.”

  • This collaboration between South African and French artists was made possible by the generous support of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS)

 

 

All-black South African cast explosive in the rewarding King Kong revival at Joburg Mandela Theatre

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DIANE DE BEER

 

Pictures: Daniel Rutland Manners

 

KING KONG Legend of a Boxer

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Munby

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: Mdu Kweyama

REVISED BOOK AND Additional LYRICS: William Nicholson

ADDITIONAL MUSIC AND ARRANGEMENTS: Charl-Johan Lingenvelder

CHOREOGRAPHY: Gregory Maqoma

SET: Paul Wills

LIGHTING: Tim Mitchell

COSTUMES: Birrie le Roux

MUSICAL DIRECTORS: Charl-Johan Lingenvelder, Sipumzo Trueman Lucwaba

SOUND: Mark Malherbe

CAST: Andile Gumbi (King Kong), Nondumiso Tembe (Joyce), Sne Dladla (Pop), Lerato Mvelase (Petal), Tshamano Sebe (Jack), Ntambo Rapatla (Miriam) and the ensemble

BAND: A live 9-piece band, under the direction of Sipumzo Trueman Lucwaba

VENUE: Mandela Theatre at the Joburg Theatre

DATES: Until October 8, Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8pm with a 3pm matinee performance on Saturdays and a 2pm matinee performance on Sundays

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Andile Gumbi  as King Kong                                                            Picture: Jesse Kramer

It’s about time but perhaps that’s what was needed to do justice to such an iconic show.

What King Kong proved again was how important it is to tell our own stories by our own people – and how an audience responds.

If anyone dares tells me again that we don’t have enough musical theatre talent in this country, I will have my arguments and evidence handy.

The talent that pops on that stage is astounding. There’s not a voice or a step out of place and when counting the performers during the encore and realising that there are only 22 to keep the whole thing going, it’s even more astonishing.

It’s a glorious show from beginning to end and it is the detail in every second that adds a truly superior quality. Not only is it well done, it’s innovative and keeps unfolding one surprise after the other in the staging, the music, the performances, the sets and the costumes.

Sibusiso Mxosana, Aphiwe Menziwa, Andile Gumbi, Shalom Zamisa, Athenkosi Mfamela
Left to right: Sabelo Radebe, Aphiwe Menziwa, Given Mkhize, Ben Kgosimore, Siphiwe Nkabinde
L to R: Nondumiso Tembe, Joel Zuma , Sanda Shandu, Barileng Malebye, Ben Kgosimore

On entering the Mandela Theatre, I was surprised by the quite austere looking set, which appeared to be wood. I liked it but was slightly puzzled by the context. It was only with lighting that I realised it was corrugated iron, which reflected and displayed differently because of specific lighting. It’s a clever set, masterfully designed to change and offer different settings and allow the cast to pop on and off stage depending on the scene through different entrances and exits.

There’s an authenticity which is enhanced by the costumes that buy into the period; an understated, realistic portrayal of the time, which immediately transports one to that place. The synched waists, the collars, the billowing skirts for the women while the temptress is in a dress that fits like skin with two-toned black and white shoes for Lucky, the snappily-dressed gangster. And the way they move encapsulates the period and the place magnificently, with the explosive style of Gregory Maqoma blending the past with the present perfectly. It keeps the mood swinging throughout.

More than anything, though, it is the cast that completely overwhelms with their excellence, enthusiasm and energy. From the leads to the ensemble, there’s a compelling urgency as they step onto stage to unveil the story of a brilliant boxer on the brink of breaking through the barriers presented by his blackness to conquer the world. And while this plays at the height of apartheid, this reworked story embraces both the present and the past to bring all ages on board. It resonates as strongly in a world where #BlackLivesMatter still needs to be spelled out.

There is substance to the story but with a score that holds many familiar and haunting songs from the past which have been emboldened by some additions by the gifted Charl-Johan Lingenvelder. This is a musical and we’re never allowed to stop that foot-tapping for long. It is so unmistakably South African with the Kwela, Marabi and Mbaqanga mixed through with some heart-stopping jazz. Even the ubiquitous Back of the Moon still has that unstoppable power only music achieves time after time.

King Kong Online 05 DM
Left to right: Sabelo Radebe, Edith Plaatjies, Lungelwa Mdekazi

It’s thrilling to watch for the performances, from Sne Dladla’s remarkable narrator Pop who seamlessly weaves the story for his young charges with their dreams of sporting greatness to the magnificence of Andile Gumbi who seems, physically and in song, born for the part of the majestic King Kong. It’s as if he towers above the rest, which immediately gives him a presence that’s hard to resist and as he falls before reaching dizzying heights, it breaks your heart. In contrast, the petite Nondumiso Tembe as his fickle girlfriend is the perfect Joyce, perhaps the most difficult part to play because of the Miriam Makeba memories. But she steps up, lets that gorgeous voice rip and claims the part – and as a reward, Joyce is the one who elicits the loudest audience groans because of her betrayal! Her distinct voice is offset by the honey-toned sounds of Lerato Mvelase (Petal) and Ntambo Rapatla (Miriam) that further embolden the lead group.

There’s also the gregarious Jack skilfully crafted by Tshamano Sebe and the wily Lucky played with slimy slickness by Sanda Shandu, as the gangster who wants his gal while humiliating the guy who won her heart. But money and power talks. It did then and does even more so today. With the ensemble underpinning the production in all areas and killing it in the dance, it’s a joy to watch.

King Kong company
King Kong company

If you like musicals – and there’s no doubt South Africans do – don’t miss this one. It’s one of the best and it’s homegrown. If you like shows with substance, it’s all there from the historic awe-inspiring beginnings of King Kong to everyone that participated in it then and in this remarkable revival.

But most of all, the spectacular cast speak volumes. What they have achieved is phenomenal and adds immeasurably to the richness of our theatre landscape – and will hopefully in the future make our musicals more representative.

Gauteng audiences missed out on the spellbinding Dreamgirls a few years back. Don’t allow it to happen again.

  • King Kong returns to Cape Town at the Fugard Theatre from December 12 for the holiday season.

 

 

A provocative scent of the past as Die Reuk van Appels plays at State Theatre

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2017-09-01-PHOTO-00000035

DIANE DE BEER

DIE REUK VAN APPELS

DIRECTOR: Lara Bye

SCRIPT: Johann Smith (adapted from Mark Behr novel)

PERFORMER: Gideon Lombard

VENUE: Momentum, State Theatre

DATES: until September 24

 

If you don’t know how to reply to that ubiquitous question, “When have we had enough?”, see the provocative Die Reuk van Appels.

If we don’t investigate and explore the past, how do we learn? How do we not make the same mistakes and punish ourselves and others all over again?

So many have pointed to specific cultures that have made others suffer like they have suffered. They understood the pain and yet had no qualms to dish it out themselves. But if we look at why certain decisions were made and actions were taken and have the in-depth conversations leading from that, which might be uncomfortable yet necessary, we can perhaps forgive and be forgiven. Never forget.

The past looks very different when time has elapsed and what might have been acceptable to some, is viewed from a much different perspective. That’s one of the things that knocks you when listening to the young Marnus chatter about his life in Apartheid South Africa circa 1973.

It’s the way innocence was politicized in the smallest way. Certain words, spark the memories and take you back to that very dark place. How could the same people for example use a pet name like the K-word in diminutive form for their young sons while at the same time telling their children never to use the K-word? How does a child deal with that in his head?

The other was always painted in the darkest terms and children were taught to do everything in the name of Christianity because then they would go to heaven. If you were young and white in this country, life was a breeze. You were protected from the harsh reality and your days passed easily with few hassles. Or that’s what Marnus was led to believe.

The biggest problems in his protected world were the issue of his sister’s confirmation as head girl the following year and the identity of a house guest which was not to be revealed to anyone but the family.

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But as with most things, life was more complex and this is where Lombard’s acting skills soar. He holds the floor easily as the young Marnus and the many characters he has to adopt and with the director’s help, the story is skillfully massaged to keep the audience hooked.

As a solo show which is played almost stationary, the movement they manage to incorporate is stunning. It lifts both the emotional level and introduces a physicality which is at the heart of the horror of this young boy’s history.

He might not understand everything that’s happening in his life and his country, but he can feel when things aren’t what they should be and once the questions start, there’s no going back.

Lombard displays an innocence without being too childlike which is charming and encapsulates the 11-year-old who is baffled by his surroundings which seem to be crumbling around him.

It is an intimate piece of storytelling that embraces a much wider world and one that resonates as strongly today with everything happening out there. Judgement is such an easy thing while your own life warrants no scrutiny. How could it, you’re a god-fearing man?

With the seemingly gentle script with brutally dark undertones, a searingly sensitive performance by Lombard and Bye’s brilliantly sculptured direction, it is powerful theatre that both illuminates and pummels you emotionally.

If not in this way, how will the lessons ever be learnt?

Die Reuk van Appels will be staged at Potchefstroom’s annual arts festival Aardklop from October 3 to 7 October and at Cape Town’s Fugard Theatre from 17 October to 11 November.

Sassy choices like Die Reuk van Appels give Theatrerocket fantastic blast off

~ debeernecessities

 DIANE DE BEER

Fledgling theatre production company Theatrerocket is making waves with its first production Die Reuk van Appels, which runs at the State Theatre until September 24;

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Gideon Lombard in Die Reuk van Appels                  Pictures: Jan Potgieter

 

When Johan van der Merwe and Rudi Sadler started talking about their passion for theatre while traveling many kilometers between Pretoria and Joburg as theatre  judges, they decided to start their own production company Theatrerocket.

Van der Merwe previously owned a catering company in-between attending all the major art festivals in South Africa as well as going on an almost annual visit to the Edinburgh Festival (averaging 700 theatre shows a year). Sadler is a theatre journalist and graphic artist. Both have recently left their day jobs because they realised while trying to achieve their dream, producing is a full time job. They’re determined to make it work and throw everything at it to see that happen.

Their first production, Die Reuk van Appels, which opens at the State Theatre’s Momentum tonight (Saturday September 2), adapted from the celebrated Mark Behr novel, hasn’t been an easy one, but it has been successful on every possible level, already raking in the awards – and they’re not done yet. It still has runs at Aardklop in October and a season in Joburg next year.

“We have been told that you never make money on your first production, but we are starting to see the light,” they explain. Anyone in and out of theatre would agree that it can only be passionate madness for these two theatre fanatics to take on this formidable task. And yet it has paid off big time. They have had many more offers than they can accept.

Their first option was a good one (as it seems with everything they have done thus far), and it was an easy choice because Van der Merwe since first reading the book, has hankered to produce this for stage – as a solo show.  The main character tells the story from his point of view, thus a solo stage show was the way to go.

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After much work, they were finally given the rights and the book, after some detours was passed on to award winning scriptwriter Johann Smith to adapt for stage. Once that was done, the two producers as well as actor Gideon Lombard and director Lara Bye had discussions with input and finally they had the completed script.

For those who don’t know the story’s bare essentials, it’s about an 11-year old Afrikaans boy Marnus who lives in a country where the black and coloured majority are governed by a white minority. He gradually becomes more aware of the injustice of the system and has to make complex decisions especially at his age about right and wrong as he witnesses certain things. His life is irrevocably changed when a foul deed destroys his existence.

“It is the story of so many white South Africans,” says Van der Merwe about living as a youngster in a country where everything was presented as normal, and he also believes that a younger generation should learn about and understand our horrific past. “They have no clue about the world we lived in, how closed it was,” he says of that period of our past.

For Lombard, this has been an extraordinary experience. Working with this particular director (and producers) was an added bonus because they knew one another. “I have worked with her before and she was a lecturer at UCT when I studied,” he says. Trust was a given and helped enormously with this very difficult text, especially as this is Lombard’s first solo performance.

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For him and Bye, the text as it currently stands has to be just that. Everything is justified in context and what some may see as inappropriate wholly serves the story and is not included to shock. To go into more detail would be a spoiler because the experience of the play is all about the unusual and unexpected unfolding and unraveling of this young boy’s experience.

“It’s a play that needs patience when viewing,” says Lombard. The rewards come at the end but in the telling, lies the detail and the poetry of the text. “Bye has created a wonderful safe space on stage,” says Lombard which also shapes an unnerving intimacy that is part of this extraordinary play.

Lombard loves the metaphorical essence of the play and is ecstatic about the experience even if like anything else – and here the producers nod in agreement – it took hard work. For all of them this has been a learning experience because it is all about firsts. But because of their dedication and their knowledge of the industry and more importantly, what it takes to make good theatre, they are painstaking about the details, and it shows.

Van der Merwe and Sadler have up to now usually been audience members. They know what they want when going to the theatre, from the practical issues like being on time and having the right sight lines to the production. But more importantly it is the content and with their first production and all its participants included, they have set a benchmark to be proud of.

If theatre is your particular bent, take a closer look at this coming-of-age story.  It grapples with the Afrikaner mentality in the late ’70s early ’80s and the brutal consequences of apartheid and the militarisations of South African life.

It will tear at your heart.

Nataniël’s Blast of Brilliance, 30 Years in 90 Minutes at Emperors Palace

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Pictures: Lorinda van den Berg

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DIANE DE BEER

30 YEARS 90 MINUTES

WRITER, DIRECTOR, PERFORMER: Nataniël

SINGERS: Nicolaas Swart, Dihan Slabbert

MUSICIANS: Charl du Plessis (piano), Juan Oosthuizen (guitars), Hugo Radyn (drums), Werner Spies (bass)

COSTUMES: Floris Louw

UNTIL September 24

Celebrating 30 years as a solo artist is quite something. Doing it in the spectacular style as Nataniël does in 30 Years, 90 Minutes is awesome but not unexpected.

Having watched him for most of those 30 years bar the first few, what has excited me most is to watch his work evolving with time, to witness the confidence grow slowly allowing him to take more and more risks until his stage brand was completely embedded.

That doesn’t mean that he keeps doing the same. This current show says everything about his past but also gives us glimpses into the future.

Nataniël has always noted that the vision for his shows begins with the costumes. It sets the tone for everything else. The costumes are the thing visually. Not that they haven’t always been but they have competed with everything else happening on stage. One always knew that you would be missing some effects at first viewing of his shows, because there was so much going on.

This time though, the stage is stripped and more than anything, the costumes and his breath-taking lighting give the visual cues. A red shimmering jacket sparkles in the light or is turned into a black jacket with flashes of red and a closing outfit is transformed in colour and texture from the beginning to the end of the song. It’s magical!

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Nicolaas Swart, Nataniël and Dihan Slabbert

All of that, as well as the set, are completely woven into the fabric of the storytelling, even when his stories don’t form one narrative other than being proof of his extraordinary ability to capture the imagination and paint pictures with words.

It’s not only the content of the stories, it’s the way they are germinated and have been constructed. In one, for example, he gives you a sentence that could be interpreted in diverse ways depending on how and when it is said, and then he ends that tale with the exact same construct as where it all started. It’s more than smart, it also gives the audience many aspects to engage and play with throughout the show. For those who think he is all about telling a story and singing a song, think again. There’s so much more – even if the former is more than enough. That’s why the longevity and the loyal fanbase.

As someone who has probably seen 90 plus percent of the shows he has created, it was a first for me when one story (spoiler alert: there’s a red Citroen with black stripes involved) was so funny, that my eyes burnt from all the tears caused by laughter.

And then there’s the music. Nataniël has always professed a deep love for singing. It’s what he enjoys most and when you see him live, it shows. His cover versions for those familiar with his music are legendary. His arrangements are so astute, they turn something familiar into something fabulous and he does a handful exquisitely in the show.

The choice of music for this season also includes something old and something new in his self-penned repertoire. To be reacquainted with some of the old tunes and being gifted something new, all adds to the richness of the production.

In addition to all of that you have the accompaniment of four supreme musicians (all in their own right) as well as two gifted singers that add even more tone and texture to the different songs. It is the complete package.

That’s the thing about a Nataniël show. Every detail is covered.

And to top it all, there’s the performer himself. It is his individuality, his unique gift for storytelling and song (creating and performing), his vision and his obsession to keep it fresh that transforms the stage and auditorium into the perfect dreamscape for 90 minutes.

He gives you what you want but in a new guise.

That’s genius!

 

War of Words: Freud and CS Lewis

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DIANE DE BEER

FREUD’S LAST SESSION

DIRECTOR: Alan Swerdlow

CAST: Graham Hopkins (Sigmund Freud), Antony Coleman (CS Lewis)

VENUE: Sandton”s Auto and General Theatre on the Square

DATES: Until September 14

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Graham Hopkins as Sigmund Freud and Antony Coleman as CS Lewis. Pictures: Philip Kuhn

 

Take two great minds with opposing points of view, make the subject religion and let them go at it.

But load up some extra tension. Make it a looming World War (2), as well as one of the protagonists suffering a debilitating disease which will kill him sooner than later. And he knows that. It becomes a war in oneself  and a war of words set against the backdrop (and constantly brought into the room) of  war on the horison.

That’s exactly what this intriguing play juggles as these two great actors slip into their respective personas with great ease while tackling some of life’s most vexing issues. If this doesn’t pull you in, it’s perhaps not your play but think about two adults having a discussion with opposing points of view without coming to blows. It doesn’t happen that often anymore – or not so one can witness. And perhaps not in real life?

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Conversational classic with Antony Coleman and Graham Hopkins

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It’s huge fun. With Hopkins and Coleman really getting stuck into the roles, it makes for mesmerising viewing.

How can you not get into the Germanic, almost austere world in which Hopkins has cloaked his Freud. He completely sucks you into his character, an atheist at the end of his life who seems to be battling with life’s issues that might not be as crystal clear as he always thought they were.

Coleman’s CS Lewis is a more affable chap, recently converted from a similar position his adversary is defending, yet not at all thrown out because of their wildly differing points of view. The only time he is caught off balance is when the war-time sirens go off and having confessed to participating in World War 1, it seems like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Both are battling their own demons.

As the distractions dissipate, the two men continue their conversation about religion, mainly, as they argue their different stances, both with superior minds which they apply to showcase their opinions. It’s not as if we can’t all participate while watching. None of what they’re talking about is new. It’s just fascinating to see these two giants of old, fight to the end, to imagine what could have happened in that room if indeed they  had this particular discussion.

It’s a good piece of writing. American playwright Mark St Germain is quick with his wit and wisdom and keeps the flow of the ideas fast while giving time to digest. And with this premise, director Swerdlow could have over-exerted his actors to keep them from turning into talking heads. Wisely he didn’t and with actors of this stature, that was the right choice. They have a good text to work with and ideas that are both challenging and engaging, and the actors have a great time sparring with each other.

It’s gloves off and may the best man win. But this is a civilised clash of great minds happy to have some fun while running through their own beliefs and testing them against the best.