Cookery books have always been popular but it’s not always easy to find a hook, that something that makes it special. For creatives Isabella Niehaus and Louis Janse van Vuuren it’s as much about the creativity as it is about the food. DIANE DE BEER spoke to this powerhouse duo a while back about There’s a Vegan on my Verandah (Also available as Daar’s ‘n Vegan op my Verandah):
Food is the common thread between these two friends Isabella Niehaus (Bella to friends) and Louis Janse van Vuuren and to make this one special, they decided to go the vegan route.
It has to happen with the way the world is going, those like myself who love everything plant based, will welcome their imaginative ideas. And with both of them innovative chefs who are used to cooking for multitudes, coming up with novel ideas and combining that with wonderful words, it came easily.
The fresh ingredients are from the forest/kitchen garden at Le Rembuché in the French countryside where Louis and his partner Hardy Olivier lived. And with Bella’s legendary long tables at her Duinhuis on the West Coast (she recently moved), and Louis’s fantasy vegan meals presented at Café Vincent and Chateau la Creuzette, it made sense for them to combine their cuisine adventures.
The book which has been rewarded with prizes and praise makes sense because of their passions which are so similar. Both of them are visual creatives and everything they do comes from that perspective. Which in this instance naturally means that the emphasis is as much on the pictures as on the words.
Not that the latter is neglected. Stories are the way they communicate amongst themselves but also on paper, and because this is a self-published book, they could do with it what they wanted with their own wishes, the ones to be obeyed. And you can see that.
With both having lived in what must be some of the most beautiful regions to be found (French countryside and Cape West Coast) how they present their cuisine and their conversations is impacted by the visual presentation – something that works particularly well in a cookbook. It is who they are and how they operate.
This visual emphasis also drives how and what they do with food. “We don’t like stylised cookbooks,” they agreed at one of the presentations they did on their country-wide tour last year.
Nostalgia and memories are also feelings that dominate the way they worked with what they were going to present. Bella only got cooking late in her life, she explains, and for her, the table is as important as the food she selects for the day.
She loves working with flour and enjoys the whole tactile thing about preparing food. Fortunately we are still a country that cooks and they are hoping that with their particular plant-based ethos, they will inspire a new approach and an easy way to embrace the future where vegetables and fruit will play a far bigger role than meat and fish.
For Louis it is all about the senses and as soon as he smells food, he also visualises how it will look on the plate. “It will finally look exactly like a painting,” says the artist. His food habits had to change to improve his health. “Once I let go of dairy, I simply felt so much better.”
But that also heightened the emphasis he gave to food, because he had to put more thought into it, especially in the early days. He also believes that as he grows older, the importance of each meal is heightened. “I want every meal to be a festive occasion,” he says.
An emblem of fdrance – LavenderBread sticks
To compile and write the book, make the recipes and take the pictures, Bella had to travel to France and with her small duct-taped suitcase, she took with her some spekboom leaves (there’s simply not an English equivalent) as well as some other South African delicacies she could squeeze in.
Fresh produce is another of their secret ingredients. If they have to eat bread, it should be freshly baked. And when you think of the French and the abundance of bakeries, it’s part of how they breathe.
But that is also much more common here than before, so there’s no excuse. And even for those of us who are gluten intolerant, it’s easy to make our own version of what represents bread.
Similarly with fresh products. It’s important to go into your garden if you have one, and pick fresh lemons for example.
Simplicity is also underlined in their choice of recipes. “If I’m eating pumpkin,” says Bella, “I want to taste the pumpkin.”
Louis has been a vegan for more than seven years, while Bella with the writing of the book, was dipping her toe into the water. But what they aimed to do with the book was to show the importance of produce and how to turn a vegan lifestyle into something spectacular in an everyday kind of way.
They emphasise that this cookbook is as much about the conversations as the cuisine. “We are two creative beings who like to chatter on about our food memories,” says Louis. They were guided by what they had in hand, how to combine smartly and imaginatively, and how to come up with affordable, wholesome and even luxurious meals.
Turmeric Milk and PasteA room with a tale to tell.Homemade Kombucha
I have to admit, my love for dairy still keeps me from adopting the vegan lifestyle. But I really cherish the information from those who are already doing it so that I can acquire as many of the wholesome habits as possible.
And because much of my food at home is plant-based, to find some clever combinations from those who know how, is something special. It is a beautiful book with many exquisite pictures and the recipes are unusual, evoking many memories from childhood and family meals.
It is also a fantastic book to add spice to your kitchen – and we all long for that. Hurry up, because there are rumours that the are starting with a second one.
The second verse of any song has to be more killer than the first. Always. The rhythm has to slap. The lyrics must be on point. The feeling intense. And the impact mad-definitive. It’s just the way it is. In the same way, if you do well in life once in a life, then you always have to be better from that point onwards. No doubt.
Author Onke Mazibuko is the director of transformation, diversity and inclusion at Johannesburg’s Kingsmead College, he has two master degrees, one in psychology, the other in public health and is busy with a PhD in creative writing. As if all that isn’t daunting enough, he tells DIANE DE BEER about The Second Verse, (Penguin Random) as well as two more books on the horizon – as well as a few other passions in his life:
“Whenever people ask me what I do for a living or who am I, I always feel I’m going to shortchange myself because there’s no one box or title or definition that would do it all justice.
“For example, if I say to people I work in a school as a director of transformation diversity and inclusion, that doesn’t explain that I’m also a writer. And when I say that also, it doesn’t do justice to the fact that I’m also a psychologist, and when I do that, it doesn’t do justice to the fact that I’m also a cyclist.
“I also love cycling, and when I say that, it doesn’t do justice to the fact that I love hiking. And when I do that, it doesn’t do justice to the fact that I’m curious about Buddhism. I’m practising meditation, but I’m not necessarily a Buddhist.
“And then there’s the rapping, the music aspect of it.”
And then he concludes that it’s easiest to say: “I’m a person, I’m a spirit, I am someone who is highly creative and I love learning. There’s nothing I love more than self-expression and learning.”
Speaking is the delightful Onke Mazibuko, whom I was privileged to interview in front of a live audience at the recent Vrye Weekblad Book Festival at Cullinan. We hadn’t met before the event apart from a short introductory phone call, but his heartfelt coming-of-age, first novel, The Second Verse (Penguin Random House), told me something about Onke’s youth.
I felt quite strongly that he had experienced the same emotions as his main character Bokang at some stage and that he was a writer I would love to read more of in the future. When asked questions about himself, he easily pours his heart out and shows who he is – as much as is comfortable – but with great sincerity.
“ I also sometimes wonder how I got to where I am because I feel there are things that happened in my life that have taken me off the path. But when I look back, I realise, I’ve never really been off the path as such,” he explains. With so many accomplishments to his name, one wonders what drives him.
“Going back to when I was six years old, all I wanted to be was a cartoonist. I used to enjoy drawing and painting and I remember my parents used to laugh at me (my father was a doctor and my mother was a nurse), thinking that this was cute maybe, and as I got older, I wanted to be a doctor like my father, but when my parents separated when I was 12, I let go of that idea. When I entered high school, it was a difficult time because our financial circumstances had changed because of the separation.
“I went from private schools to government schools and even though there are very good government schools, it was a very big change in my life. We moved from KwaZulu-Natal where I had been in boarding school for eight years and suddenly we were in East London in the Eastern Cape and I was a day scholar.”
That is where the writing started – an emotional response, perhaps a coping mechanism in a life that might have felt as though it was disintegrating.
“I started writing a lot of poetry. Now years later, I’ve become aware that whenever I go through emotionally difficult times, I tend to turn to writing.”
This developed into an interest in learning to rap and taking part in hip-hop events when he attended the University of Cape Town. For the first time he saw his peers getting on stage and doing poetry and he challenged himself to learn to rap and get over his fear of talking in front of people. “I was very shy,” he explains. Getting on stage, enjoying the hip-hop scene, that’s where he forged an identity for himself.
He eventually dropped out of university because he had chosen a specific field for the wrong reasons. And while the hip-hop was going well, at the time, it wasn’t yet commercially viable. “I was not compromising and I felt that I wasn’t going to change my music just to fit into the industry standards.”
And he still takes that stance when making decisions. Something he questions in his writing is when others try to define him. The Second Verse has been branded as young adult, while he feels that, if he had anybody in mind, it was an older reader. “I wanted readers to reflect on their past, look back,” he says.
Leaving university, his life took what some might think of as a sharp left. He went to work for a bank. But this also allowed him to explore his creative side in many ways. He decided to return to his university studies but also kept up the writing. His office and the university were in close proximity and graffiti became another pastime to indulge his creative dreams.
“I would leave home at 7am in the morning dressed in working gear, walk 25 minutes to work. Opening accounts for people, talking to them about home loans etc, doing all these professional things, and at approximately 4pm, would walk about 5 minutes and get to school and attend lectures until about 8 at night.”
Then he would walk home at nighttime, and his creativity would emerge again. He would have his spray cans handy and start tagging and doing throw-ups. Then to bed at about 10 so that he could wake up at 2 in the morning, go and graffiti train carriages and return home to get ready for work, where he would show up with fingers covered in paint.
People didn’t know what he was doing, but he was at work on time. In-between clients, when he got bored, he would write poetry and rap, which passed the time.
He always read a lot, and he remembers reading somewhere that if you are a reader, you are a writer under cover. “If I had to find an origin of when I started writing, I would take it as far back as when I started reading.” When he was at boarding school at the age of 5, “they would read us bedtime stories, and by the time I was in std 1, you had to have your own book.”
Books were always a part of his life. His father’s books were all around the house, in fact, he and his brother’s room was pretty much his father’s library. “We felt we were sleeping in his library rather than that his books were in our room.”
He didn’t do particularly well in writing at high school and this was him trying, so he left school thinking that he couldn’t write, didn’t think it was something special. His sister (who sadly died a few years ago) always played a special mentoring role. She was a lecturer where he was studying and would give him feedback about what his lecturers were saying.
He was in the psychology department and she was in the sociology department, and she would tell him how proud she was of him because the lecturers were always saying how well he wrote.
But it wasn’t until he got to his honours degrees, when they started telling him he could write well. During his psychology studies, he was having emotional struggles and had read that journalling could help him. He has been doing that since 2008 and hardly ever skips his daily journalling. For him it is not about the content but about the practice of making time to be with himself.
The first time he really attempted to write a story, he was 35 years old and was doing a PhD in psychology. He was having problems and again writing became his safe place. In the process, he realised how much he was enjoying the writing.
He also started volunteering at youth-centred NGO’s, while writing another novel which deals with young people. He’s continued seeing clients, not a lot, but he loves the therapy. He also does palm reading, astrology and tarot. When spending time in libraries at 19 after dropping out, he discovered books on astrology, and just read and read.
This side of his career developed organically and he knows now that when he felt his life was falling apart, he was actually gathering knowledge and strength for the future. “Things come around; what I learnt to do at a young age has become part of my life.”
When he isn’t writing, he falls apart. He does a lot of writing exercises, which keeps him healthy and focussed on a routine. Research methods, life experience, everything comes into play.
Mentoring plays a large role in his life. Once he starts talking about the youngsters he mentors, the stories just pour out. Often their stories remind him of his own journey. He is also someone who received scholarships and travel grants – once you’ve received these kind of gifts, you want to do the same for other people.
It was one of his mentees, a young man who had never read a novel and was sent one of the early drafts of The Second Verse, whose response and determination to keep reading, proved to Onke that while he didn’t view his book as great literature, he has the ability to capture emotions. It’s not about the words (in other words), it’s about the storytelling capability.
He was humbled when he received the South African Literary Award for Youth Literature, which confirmed to him that this is the kind of story he should write.
The book was influenced by Catcherin the Rye which at first he hated, but when he read again after dropping out at varsity, he experienced it very differently. Once he realised he was writing a coming-of-age story, he tapped into the most difficult four years of his life – high school. He was discriminated against by both white and Black kids and always made to feel different, creating a yearning to fit in.
His two latest books are a story of two brothers whose sister died and, one he is writing for his PhD in creative writing that follows his years at Transnet and deals with a whistleblower who discovers corruption in a state-owned company. It can’t come too soon.
CAST: David Dennis as Uncle; Michael Richard as Tim; Astrid Braaf as Journalist; Zane Meas as the Lawyer; Ziaphora Dakile as Tiger Claws; Melissa Haiden as Virginia
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Aalliyah Zama Matintela
SET AND COSTUME DESIGN: Lisa Younger
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Hlomohang ‘Spider’ Motheto
AV DESIGNER: Xolelwa ‘Ollie’Nhlabatsi
SOUND DESIGNER: Vagile Mpumlwana
VENUE: Mannie Manim Theatre at The Market
DATES: Until May 19
In the programme notes the playwright is described as a prominent political analyst, and a columnist for the Mail and Guardian newspaper as well as the author of a number of political books.
Zane Meas and David Dennis.
The following is also stated:
The Brothers, Number One and a Weekend Special is the story of the rise of State Capture, starting with the announcement of a new Minister of Finance in late-2015. The play, which tracks a two-year history, is written by astute political analyst, Richard Calland, who has been close to the frontline of South African politics since 1994 and a political columnist at the Mail & Guardian since 2001.
As the drama unfolds, an audience witness the high-stakes manoeuvres, clandestine dealings, and manipulation of public sentiment that fuelled further racial division across the nation. Calland weaves a narrative that connects the dots between government, media, and corrupt businessmen, laying bare the underbelly of a political landscape marked by noise, complexity, and a dangerous volatility.
This leaves you in no doubt about what is going to follow and my first thought was, this being the 30th celebration of what still feels like our young democracy, the play must be seen as a sign of our maturity as a country.
David Dennis and Astrid Braaf.In confrontsation Astrid Braaf, and Ziaphora Dakile.
This kind of play, with a representative audience all loudly involved from start to finish, has a lot to say about what we have gone through and, how we have emerged with much more political smarts and cynicism following the Zuma years. Even though we are still suffering many financial and ideological blows from that horrific time, we are not as easily duped, no longer the silent sacrificial lambs we were then.
And at the heart of what unfolds is the playwright who as a political analyst and journalist, has the information at his fingertips.
How can we forget how the iconic Brenda Fassie song title Weekend Special became something completely different in South African minds?
Michael Richard and Melissa Haiden.
This was perhaps the turning point of the whole Zuma fiasco – his Weekend Special. You can dupe a country as much as you want it seemed, but when you go for their money, that’s a completely different ball game – and when things started to unravel for the shameless Number One. Des van Rooyen was no match for the controversially fired Nhlanhla Nene – as the rand went into free fall.
Remember those heady days for the Gupta brothers, who are still hiding out (with South African billions, mind you) somewhere in the Middle East, Switzerland or India depending on which sources you trust.
Back to the play. We all know the facts; there were many newspaper reports as well as Thuli Madonsela and Zondo’s inquiries. With Homann smartly mixing his cast with stage veterans such as Zane Meas, Michael Richard and Dennis Becket and three young but also experienced female actors (more familiar I suspect to Cape audiences), we all had to think on our feet to work out the different characters.
David Dennis is Mac Maharaj whispered an audience member close by, but in the end it didn’t matter. You quickly gathered that the men were part of the corruption including the Guptas, as well as those handling all the shaky deals from government side, with Richard being the one watching and guiding his journalist.
David Dennis makes his point.
It was glorious to see these three in action on the same stage, masterfully matched by the young female energy in their particular roles of either ferreting out, or defying any corruption allegations, depending on their particular alliances.
It takes one back to those early days of discovery. Remember the Saxonwold shebeen? People carrying handbags stuffed with money, others denying visits to their overlords, those in command of State Capture. It feels a bit like a horror movie, but not with Calland orchestrating the manoeuvres and connecting the different dots.
And everyone was laughing. We have, after all, dodged a bullet and most of us are much less gullible than we were in those heady early days of our democracy.
The anguish is palpable.
It’s a fast-paced political thriller of sorts and it’s our own. What I would have liked is a bit more clarity in the staging. With seats on three sides, the projections were difficult to follow from the side. And some gave insight into the full affair which was unravelling at a speed.
Short and straightforward interactions would have added more punch (from both a script and staging perspective) and added a contemporary edge. The audience obviously loved it and were fully engaged, and so was I. But, especially as we all knew the details, it simply would have elevated it into a landmark play.
ATTENDING a fabulous dinner at the French Embassy, DIANE DE BEER lost her heart not only to the fantastic food and spectacular wines, but especially to the savvy of her French hosts and the sassiness of her fellow South Africans:
A small but pretty selection of the garden as you enmter the residence grounds.
It was the French Embassy’s Goȗt de France dinner that again reminded me of one of our best attributes – our people.
Myself with the stylish Itumeleng Makhoi; and above right, First Lady of Lesotho Mrs Mammusa Masekoalane Majoro and Namibian olympian hockey player David Britz.
Here we were in all our diversity from two soon-to-be Olympian hockey players (one representing South Africa and the other Namibia, but we claim him because he is studying at UJ) to a fashion designer whose calling card was her fabulous style on the evening, a stylish young gentleman who imports champagne for local enthusiasts, a sassy lawyer and a smart landscape architect.
Two chefs, Mpho and Mohau Seshoene (aka The Lazy Makoti) with the French Ambassador H. E. Mr David Martinon , and on the right, landscape architect Mosa Seshoene and Adv. Kutlwano Motla (or The Boujee Traveller, a travel content creator) PICTURE: French Embassy/Aldina Mujkanovic
And that’s just a handful. There was the woman with the red headpiece and the sexy red stilettos who turned out to be the First Lady of Lesotho Mrs Mammusa Masekoalane Majoro and it wasn’t just her style that was exuberant, her personality was a perfect match. But the same could be said of the two young lasses (above) also at our table, the one a landscape architect and the other a lawyer, both of whom had as much sass as they had style.
A predictable but splendid welcome
It has always been one of the French Embassy’s secret weapons. There’s someone there who knows how to put a spectacular group of South Africans together. This time the current ambassador H.E. Mr David Martinon noted that because of the upcoming Olympics in Paris, they had hoped to combine food and sport but that wasn’t always achievable.
But what they did manage was to showcase people who displayed our most extraordinary strength – diversity.
French Embassy chef André Ahiba (left), who has served nine Ambassadors with his staff in the kitchen. PICTURE: French Embassy/Aldina Mujkanovic
All of this was also reflected by the charming Ambassadorial couple, H.E. Mr Martinon and his wife Karen, in the food on the night which was the brainchild of the embassy chef, André Ahiba, who has served nine ambassadors and celebrated French cuisine in marvellous fashion.
A melange of seafood
The starter was a mini seafood combo with a prawn poached in its own bisque paired with a beautiful panfried scallop. It was delicious and a fine launch into the rest of the meal.
Slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank with imaginative accompaniments.
This was followed with slow-cooked Karoo lamb shank which paid homage to produce from a specific region and then similarly, to sustainability. The accompaniments included pomme dauphine and julienne courgettes. But the piece de resistance was a morille farcie, which my chef partner said he knew about but had never eaten. When looking for a translation, stuffed mushrooms pops up, but the best I can do is to say that the chef noted it was extremely expensive and the taste was that of mushrooms, very intriguing.
Brie truffe Brioche, the cheese course.
This was followed by their cheese course which again displayed a wonderful individuality of thought. What could have been easier than presenting us with a selection of French cheeses. Everyone would have been wowed. But again the chef imaginatively presented us with Brie truffe Brioche (a brioche with truffle brie is my translation) which I loved, served with a salad, it was different and tasty.
A sweet surprise.
The other nod to South African produce was a Rooibos white Valrhona tart with a red fruits and a biscuit financier (which has its name because of the shape reflecting a gold bar!).
What I liked about the menu was that it felt pared down in the best sense of the word. Every dish had some extraordinary qualities but in conclusion, one left the table replenished yet comfortable.
The food was complemented with phenomenal French wines. I am by no means a wine specialist but from the apéritif served with the most delicious foie gras squares brightly decorated with rose leaves out of the spectacular embassy garden, Champagne Gobillard rosé 2016, followed by Chablis Cru Domaine Long-Depaquit 2022 and the most amazing of all, the Château SIRAN Margaux Haut Médoc 2017, and then the Petit Ours Blanc Domaine Matthieu Barret 2014 and finally yet another fantastic Champagne Mumm Olympe demi-sec.
When countries want to show off their quality and they do it this well, those of us invited to participate in the tasting, cannot but go overboard with the praise.
And in the final analysis it was the full package that gift-wrapped this evening so magnificently. From the arrivals which take you through some of the prettiest gardens to the entrance where you are met with a glorious ensemble of citizens hosted by an enchanting ambassadorial couple who as a bonus also have their young daughters meet the guests and show off some French charm.
The staff are magnificently dressed with gorgeous smiles as they gently see that the guests on the night are suitably cared for.
And then my fellow South Africans introduced to me by the French ambassador. I think I have said as much as I can and can simply add that it was an evening that I couldn’t have been more proud to be South African.
Three dynamic stars, Ilse Klink, Gina Shmukler and Kate Normington.
CAST: Gina Shmukler, Kate Normington, Ilse Klink, Emmanuel Castis, Matt Newman, Tiaan Rautenbach, Kiruna-Lind Devar, Gianluca Gironi, Ntshikeng Matooane, Sunny Yoon, Chad Baai, Bradley Smith and the rest of the ensemble
SET AND LIGHTING DESIGNER: Denis Hutchinson
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Charl-Johan Lingenvelder
CHOREOGRAPHER: Duane Alexander
COSTUME DESIGNER: Sue Daniels
SOUND DESIGNER: Mark Malherbe
ASSOCIATE RESIDENT DESIGNER: Timothy Le Roux
PRODUCER: Hazel Feldman, Tony Feldman
DIRECTOR: Janice Honeyman
VENUE: Teatro at Montecasino
DATES: Until June
Kate Normington, Gina Shmukler and Ilse Klink in their ABBA gear with the cast.
It wasn’t that Mamma Mia was the attraction – been there, done that. I was intrigued by the three actors – Gina Shmukler, Ilse Klink and Kate Normington – in the latest production.
Seasoned actors and singer all, they don’t get that many chances in lead roles (there are just not that many starring roles for women once they’re out of their 30s) and I knew this would be a triple threat. These are women with sass who strut when they walk. No shrinking violets here! They would go for this one in unison and grab that stage – as they did, fulfilling my every wish.
Like many musicals, this is also a rather silly if sweet one, but with ABBA’s music, it ticks all the boxes and has an hysterically loyal fanbase, but what I wasn’t expecting were the many youngsters (I’m guessing between 8 and 12!) in the audience.
Kiruna-Lind Devar as Sophie.
Right in front of me were two (again guessing) 12-year-old girls who were totally into the musical from start to finish. At the beginning of each song, they would glance at each other and joyfully sing along – pitch and word perfect! Rather than hinder my experience, I was enchanted by their enthusiasm and it switched me on to the charm of the musical, which might otherwise have felt jaded to this seasoned viewer.
Not for this audience though. When last were you in an auditorium where they were clapping along to almost every song? You cannot but be swayed to lose all your hard-earned cynicism.
Ilse Klink, Gina Shmukler and Kate Normington and the cast.
But back to the show on stage. Can those three women sing – together and individually they rocked and easily generated the star power this kind of show needs. It’s not that they haven’t all had the chance to individually star in shows. But these days, it’s tough to find starring roles for women beyond 40, so when you get them, you’d better make good use of the opportunity.
This is exactly what Klink, Normington and Shmukler do. They know the game and have made full use of this marvellous opportunity. And, like I thought it would, it shows.
They’re directed by another wise and wily artist, Janice Honeyman, who knows all the tricks in the book. And with these three accomplished performers, she would have had loads of fun.
The two lovebirds Gianluca Gironi (Sky) and Kiruna-Lind Devar (Sophie).
They’re well supported by the youngsters, especially the love-struck couple, Kiruna-Lind Devar and Gianluca Gironi, who both have youthful stage appeal and energy.
A personal favourite was the omnipresent, soberly yet strikingly dressed in black, little old Greek lady (Chantal Stanfield), who is a constant presence as she pops up in almost every scene, for no other reason than confirming we’re on a Greek island. This lovely throughline stays amusing, if not relevant to the story.
Tiaan Rautenbach, Emmanuel Castis and Matt Newman as the three Dads.
If you don’t know the story of the young woman who hopes to recreate her mother’s romantic dream and in the process also discover the identity of her birth father, don’t delve any further.
Check the colourful pics, see if it looks like your kind of thing, gather the family or a group of friends and make a night of it.
Chad Baai, Ginaluca Girona, Bradley Smith and the Mamma Mia male ensemble.
Think of titles like Dancing Queen, I have a Dream, Lay all Your Love on Me, Mamma Mia (of course!), Super Trouper, SOS, Our Last Summer, Take A Chance on Me… and many more.
Even if you don’t consider yourself a particular fan, I bet you can sing along to most of these songs. That’s what their music is ultimately about … and so is this musical.
And this time there’s extra punch with these three dynamic dames. They are what makes this show swing.
The ensemble wih the love-struck couple (Scarlett Pay and Dylan Janse van Rensburg) in the front.
REVIEW BY DIANE DE BEER
Pictures: Claude Barnardo
SPRING AWAKENING
Based on the play by Frank Wedekind
Books and lyrics: Steven Sater
Music by: Duncan Sheik
Featuring: Dylan Janse van Rensburg, Scarlett Pay and Jonathan Conrad with Gemma Bisseker, Killian Blerk, Jude Bunyan, Tatum Grace Coleman, Jayden Dickson, Noa Duckitt, Skye Themeda Goss, Ché-Jean Jupp, Gabriella Knight, Jasmine Minter, Tumelo Mogashoa, Hannah Norcott, Nandipa Nyivana, Benjamin Stannard, Tjaart van der Walt, Gerhard van Rooyen (graduates and under-graduates) and playing the two adults, also former students of LAMTA (The Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy), Francis Chouler and Natalie Robbie
PRODUCERS: Anton Luitingh and Duane Alexander
LIGHTING, SCENIC AND COSTUME DESIGN: Niall Griffin
SOUND DESIGN: David Classen
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND ASSISTANT MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Anton Luitingh
CHOREOGRAPHIC SUPERVISOR: Duane Alexander
VOCAL DESIGNER: Annemari Milazzo
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Amy Campbell
CHOREOGRAPHY: Anna Olivier and Naoline Quinzin
STAGE MANAGER: Sarah Wolhuter
DIRECTOR: Sylvaine Strike
VENUE: Pieter Toerien Theatre, Montecasino
DATES: May 5
Spring Awakening a production for current times.
Perhaps Spring Awakening is the reason Sylvaine Strike is only now directing her first musical. It was destined to happen with this particular show – and she does it magnificently.
If anyone was up to this specific task, she was. Even more than I knew, because I was unaware of her teaching responsibilities at LAMTA, Luitingh and Alexander’s Musical Theatre Academy in Cape Town that invited Strike to direct.
In her programme notes, she explains that her students understood her approach “tackling the very controversial themes – from a physical rather than a psychological perspective – possible, and ensuring that the sexuality, heartache, and rebellion we activated during the rehearsal process always came first and foremost from the body. This was apt seeing that the impulses of adolescence also spring from this turmoiled yet effervescent well. Whether we explored the private agony of self-consciousness; the damage of self-doubt; the wreckage of hormones on both mind and soul; the pain of parents’ inability to accept a child as they are; or the blossoms of sexuality growing their gentle tendrils of yearning and fantasy throughout adolescence …”
Much of the magic is in the movement.
Her mantra was to seek a physical way to manifest these feelings and to create the characters from that specific place.
And even though I didn’t know any of this before watching this production, it was the movement and the choreography that grabbed and gripped me throughout. It was so clever and crafty to use this in both solo and ensemble numbers and even with the very specific movements of the two adults to exactly capture their strictly restrained and fastidiously maintained lives.
I kept wondering who the choreographers were, as they who would have been completely aligned with Strike’s vision because of her very detailed rehearsal process. Not surprisingly, but also with kudos to the producers and director, they picked two of their talented graduates Olivier and Quinzin, who did an amazing job both incorporating and executing their work to perfection. It adds currency and electricity to the performances that translate masterfully.
But that was just the start of the cohesion of the whole. Again the programme notes capture it best when explaining the electrifying adaptation of Wedekind’s Spring Awakening into a contemporary rock musical, which Strike rightly salutes as the key to the current success of the piece. She is convinced (and I agree) that the sheer brilliance of Steven Sater’s lyrics and Duncan Sheik’s music makes the return of this classic possible and heightens the relevance of the themes as long as there are adolescents in this world.
To pull it off though, it needed the razor-sharp vision of Strike, her pinpoint accuracy in the detail and, more than anything, the artists she surrounds herself with, assigning them to their specific fields of expertise. Even though she and designer Griffin had never worked together, she trusted her instincts and tasked him with all three design elements: lighting, costume and set, all of which establish the feel and the atmosphere of where and how the story unfolds.
It’s brilliant. From the set that transforms with only a few movable parts to the costumes that speak volumes in their simplicity but also carry an underlying theme, as he experimented with the authenticity of the fabric, to the lighting that enhanced what he had already established with the set and the costumes.
All of this would have been superfluous without the right cast. It starts with their youthfulness. Undergraduates and graduates of LAMTA, most were already familiar with the director’s ethos, and it shows. Performances are spectacular and some of the solo moments quite breathtaking.
Spectacular singing with individual tones from Johnathan Conrad and Dylan Janse van Rensburg.
There’s too much to take in and remember in one sitting, but the performer I couldn’t turn away from was the unusual Johnathan Conrad. It needed someone like Strike to cast correctly, but it was as if the theatre gods had handed her a mini Mick Jagger in looks and talent. As the overwrought and picked-upon Moritz Stiefel, his every move, the singing and the presence never faltered – a wonderful foil in a complex production.
The love-struck Scarlett Pay (as Wendla Bergman) and Dylan Janse van Rensburg (Melchior Gabor) are radiant as the couple who cannot resist one another, and their singing captures their hearts’ desires magnificently. Another standout was the luminous Noa Duckitt as Ilse Neuman.
Two standout performances from Noa Duckitt as Ilse and Johnathan Conrad as Moritz Stiefel.
The music holds the show and the singing had to soar for the show to come alive. Again, musical director Amy Campbell teaches at LAMTA and wisely she was in charge and harnessed all her skills to get this working perfectly. More than anything it is the individuality of the different singers surrounded by the more gentle ensemble singing (more often than not) that rocks this one.
Finally it is Strike who pulled it all together. You can have all the talent in the world, but if the story isn’t told with one voice, it has diminishing impact.
Strike doesn’t miss a beat. She has gathered artists young and old around her to tell this striking story that affects us all at some stage in life in the best way she knows how. It has purpose, it holds you in awe from beginning to end, and you are engaged in and enraged with these youngsters as they fight for their right to live their way.
Niall Griffin dying the costumes wearing protective gear.
When Niall Griffin was invited to take on most of the design elements (set, costumes and lighting) for the Sylvaine Strike-directed Spring Awakening, he was nervous going into the process because living up to the expectations of a legend can be daunting. He tells DIANE DE BEER about the experience, which he describes as the highlight of his career:
Spring Awakening, presented by Cape Town’s Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy (LAMTA) as their first book musical, also marks the first time that Sylvaine Strike has directed a musical.
Based on the controversial play that was written in the late 1800s by Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening delves into the lives of a group of adolescent students discovering their changing bodies, their sexual identities, urges and desires, all while navigating the oppressive and draconian societal norms of the day.
Under Strike’s visionary direction, this reimagined production (with a very young cast) brings the gripping and emotional story to life as it explores complex themes such as self-discovery, repression and the power of rebellion.
Niall Griffin, a designer with a mission.
And while there was initial anxiety, once the work began, Griffin knew instantly that he was on safe ground. “The care, respect, trust and sense of magical play that Sylvaine instilled in our journey together are unmatched in my career. I think we both felt an immediate understanding of each other and were both amazed at how perfectly our style and ethos merged,” he says.
“We care immensely for our process, our casts, our team and our audiences, sometimes to our detriment, but finding someone with that same level of care has been one of the greatest gifts of my career.”
Being familiar with the level of detail Strike approaches when making a play, all of the above sounds like a match made in heaven.
The vibrant young cast in Spring Awakening
Accepting the challenge was a no-brainer for a designer who is also described as an industry legend. “There are musicals and then there are musicals. Some are light and frivolous and the perfect escapism and then some hit you harder in a place that truly moves you. Spring Awakening is the latter for me. The little rockstar hit that came out of left field to take Broadway by storm,” is how he describes it.
“It deals with things that we’ve all been through or are going through, both good and bad. All too often, in this day and age, we are driven into false beliefs and horrific mental health issues because we carry such shame from our experiences. The show, as heartbreaking as the story is, leaves one with love, compassion and a sense of togetherness. The human condition is not singular. We are not alone. We all need a little more love in our lives… and who doesn’t love a bit of Victorian-era deliciousness?”
Describing the process, he explains that what began as an exercise in replicating period fabric developed into an exploration on how possible it was to create an entire show from natural fibre. “Our planet has rapidly become saturated with ‘the synthetic’ and I believed this show needed authenticity in every aspect if it was to have the impact it deserved.
“The entirety of the show’s design is manufactured from purely natural fibre. Costumes began as neutral cotton that were dyed with natural dyes. The set is sustainably sourced wood and hessian made from vegetable fibre. It has been an incredibly educational and rewarding process.”
It is that process that piqued my interest, especially when basically the whole look depends on the outcome. Griffin understood that taking on the full production design across set, costume and lighting was a huge undertaking and not for the faint hearted.
“My driving force is to find a seamless synergy between all departments. What I term ‘one organism’. While taking on full production design is huge, it does make knitting a visual together far easier. Even though this show was Sylvaine’s and my ‘maiden voyage’, it was clearly destined, as our sensibilities and aesthetics couldn’t be better matched.”
And there’s the key, something they obviously both understood. “Theatre design to me, at its core, is about designing emotional response. I needed to immerse myself in the emotional journey of the piece, the high and low tides, in order to find its design core,” he notes.
For him texture is far more than paint and dye. “I spent a long time with the score and libretto and, to quote the Gen Z’ers, ‘felt the feels’. This is how I approach the majority of my design work, from a place of emotional honesty. It’s about finding the heart of the piece.”
Describing his process in more detail, he began with the sets, followed by costumes and finally lighting:
“When it comes to scenic design, my favourite moments in theatre are when a space manages to completely morph its texture, feeling and setting without all the ‘big toys’ and flash. A threatening storm can become something else, in mere moments, with a shaft of light breaking through the clouds. I wanted the space to morph seamlessly so that the emotional flow wasn’t interrupted by a clunky scene change. Finding the balance between something that can feel both oppressive and beautiful was a challenge. Using exposed wood was a no-brainer for me. Wood is a material that carries its growth with it forever. Its rings and knots and imperfections are part of it. This felt poetic to me.”
When it came to costuming, he wanted to create a uniform that felt prescribed by an oppressive regime, “a regime trying to erase the individual and force uniformity. I felt this would underpin the narrative journey of our characters rebelling against the blind norm by illustrating how prescribed uniformity cannot erase the burning fire of the individual.
“Every costume, from head to toe, has been lovingly made from scratch. They are all individually hand dyed and aged, and this is where I started to sneak the individual into the uniforms by aging and breaking down each individual’s garments with their own personality. Some of this detail may not be evident to the audience, but it was important to me that the cast could experience their costumes in this way. I truly believe that what the cast feels in their costumes translates into their performances.”
Lighting delivers the final flourish. “Sometimes, at the speed a musical moves, the audience needs to understand an emotional shift quickly, and this is where lighting was vital to me. I wanted the world to feel murky and rich, like an oil painting come to life.”
If the successful runs in Cape Town are an indicator, this has all been achieved, as the visuals will attest.
And Griffin has his final say: “Making theatre, especially non-replica productions, in South Africa in the current climate is hard work. Creating an entire musical from scratch was a feat second to none. I have a team of remarkable artisans that I work closely with and whom I would be nothing without. They all share my level of delivery standards and they all jump into the deep end with my crazy ideas. A tribe second to none. I couldn’t be prouder of the product, and watching audiences experience it in Cape Town has filled me with so much joy.” * Performances run until 5 May 2024 at Pieter Toerien’s Theatre at Montecasino with shows from Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:30pm and matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets cost from R200 through Webtickets. Please note that Spring Awakening contains mature themes, partial nudity, sexual situations as well as explicit language. No persons under 13.
Stellenbosch singer/songwriter Luna Paige will be in Pretoria and Philadelphia for rare performances to celebrate the launch of two new albums; the one in Afrikaans (Dis die Dors), the other in English (Harmony). DIANE DE BEER chats to the singer whose career she has followed from her early days – with admiration:
Storielied Reunion.Picture: Pierre Rommelare
For singer/songwriter Luna Paige the last few years has been a sharp learning curve. Since her early start in the industry (late 1999), she has been one of the most dedicated artists I know – and she usually does it all herself.
Her first look-in was when she was invited to record three of her songs on a compilation album alongside Lesley Rae Dowling and other female artists at the time. “It is what catapulted me into a music career,” she says. But driven as she is, and one has to be when you drive your own career as she does, she would have found a way.
Since those early days she has released five solo albums and one SAMA-nominated collaborative album. And since 2015, she has released numerous songs digitally and she believes, she has come into her own this past decade. That is until Covid struck.
She established her own music production company which developed music-driven productions, hosted and organised, concert series and co-ordinated music workshops five years ago. In her capacity at Iluminar Productions, she also represented other musicians and musical groups.
She found herself collaborating with many artists and produced shows such as Her Blues, Korreltjie Kantel and Smeltkroes. She also played a supporting and promotional role in the popular My Miriam Makeba Story featuring the luminous Sima Mashazi.
Because her business was still young and primarily focussed on servicing art festivals and live entertainment venues and clubs, the pandemic was disastrous as for so many other artists who depend on audiences.
Luna knew it was time to join the workforce and between 2021 and 2024 she worked as a marketer and fundraiser for Paul Roos Gymnasium, a prestige Stellenbosch school. But she’s back in the music business, armed with many new skills and ideas she wants to implement in the music industry – as well as two new albums.
During Covid she had time to reflect, and, coming out of the pandemic, her thinking and that of the world around her, has changed. That is also what her songs reflect; her collaborative intent as well as the fast-paced changes in our society. “The last time I released an album, the world looked a lot different. The digital era is now in full sway. It has affected everything outside of us, but also our own internal way of processing information, and life in general.”
And that is exactly what she sings about.
When you ask Luna about her life, she speaks about the difficulty of packaging herself. “Let’s be honest, I am so many things!” She is a singer-songwriter. She writes in her mother tongue but also in English. She doesn’t compose in a specific genre. “For me, the song, and the story behind it, dictates the genre the song needs to be in. I find my influences from a wide array of genres.”
But then she is also a social worker, an altruist and an organiser. She feels she is a catalyst of sorts. “I know how to bring an interesting group of people together to do great things.” And with those words in mind, I predict exciting performances in the future.
Luna has always had to fight for her place in the industry. Performing isn’t an easy way to make a living. Music is her life, and she has always known that’s where she wants to be. Armed with new skills and insight, she believes that private investment in the arts is essential for its survival. “I believe artists have a huge responsibility to not only expect funds, but to also give back to their own communities. And the causes they believe in.”
While fundraising and marketing something other than herself, she became aware of her own different facets. “I have always seen them as separate things, one not having anything to do with the other. But now I know it’s the combination of these elements that makes me unique.”
She’s excited to explore what she calls “fusion of self”, how it will unfold and the kind of creative endeavours it will lead to.
These two latest album releases also reflect her new-found knowledge, showing the different sides of self.
“My Afrikaans side and my English side. Why? Because I do express myself differently in these two languages. It is interesting to me how I almost have a different voice in each of them,” she explains.
And speaking of voices, Luna also does different voices when she speaks and when she sings. If you have a conversation and have never heard her sing, it sounds like a completely different person.
On her Afrikaans album, Dis die Dors, she pays homage to two iconic poets – Jeanne Goosen and Antjie Krog. Their poems, which she puts to music, touch on the subject of either loneliness or aloneness. “It’s a theme I am quite interested in – especially the difference between the two. The power of the one versus the sadness of the other.” Both poets, she notes, also touch on our thirst – for something meaningful in what can be a challenging world. “I sing about purpose, about nature’s generous supply of lessons, and about the labels we embrace for our own self-preservation.” She also addresses online nastiness and real-life kindness, and borrowed time.
And as always with the soulful singer, the genres vary from gypsy jazz and world music to folk rock, rock ‘n roll, troubadour-style songs and one typical Luna-style piano rock ballad.
On the English album, Harmony, she included some of the songs released digitally during 2021 and 2022, as they didn’t reach enough people. She believes they deserve a good resting place. She describes the album as bolder in sound and voice. “I am sharing ideas that I have never previously introduced in my music. Ideas about a lot of –isms. In my song Whose life is it anyway I am encouraging freedom of expression, of individualism, freedom from whatever the mainstream demands. In Circle of witches she addresses the sensitivity towards feminism (even from women themselves). “It is a modern take on feminism and why I believe it is still relevant.”
Not one to stand on the sidelines, Middle Class Shoes is dedicated to May 29 when we stand in line to vote for our next ruling party. “It is a song about classism – something we don’t acknowledge remotely enough when talking politics in SA,” she says.
Luna Paige. Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht
Real news that feels like fiction, alcohol abuse, the power of owning aloneness as well as her love of the continent all feature. And there’s much more.
What she does with her music is speak her mind. All she asks is that we take the time to listen. And I certainly can’t wait. She has a voice that melts your heart and touches the soul. And she offers wisdom and wit with her thoughtful lyrics.
Much thought and research went into producing these albums and how to package them for this digital age.
What she has decided is to release her music in USB-format.
The 2024-USB will include the two new albums, poster art, lyric sheets and two music videos. The Full Collection-USB, will offer all her releases since 2003, multiple videos and live footage. She will also be selling personalised Luna Paige notebooks – with lyric extracts inside.
Her first performance was in Stellenbosch this past weekend and these two follow in Gauteng and Philadelphia:
Sunday, 14 April. Moonshot Café. Pretoria. 2.30pm. Tickets cost R200 at Quicket. Ticket link: https://qkt.io/tR9Nhd. On stage: Luna Paige and Mauritz Lotz.
Wednesday, 17 April. BV Hall. Philadelphia. 8pm. Pre-drinks and dinner at The Pepper Tree from 5.30 to 7.30pm (Reservations: (+27) 84 707 3177. Show time: 8pm. Tickets cost R200 at Quicket. Ticket link: https://qkt.io/DAlG8G. On stage: Luna Paige, Mauritz Lotz, Schalk Joubert, Kevin Gibson.
And then she’s off for the rest of the year as she recharges her creative instincts and inspiration. She will be visiting places she has always dreamt of like Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and possibly Slovenia. She will be walking and writing, researching business ideas and checking in with artists who work in a social impact sphere.
Another Klein Karoo National Arts Festival has come and gone but what lingers are the artists, their originality, dedication, blood, sweat and tears and delight that they provide in a lopsided world which is difficult to navigate. DIANE DE BEER finds nourishment, inspiration and novelty in the imaginative and ingenious artistry of our creatives:
I have to be honest from the start. Festivals always have a strong emotional impact on me. I am in the fortunate position as an arts journalist to be invited to see as many productions as I can squeeze into the run of an event and at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) there was still a post-Covid frisson with the festival at full strength for a second year.
When a festival goes into full swing, it can be quite daunting and I’m not sure whether I want to be there, but as excellent productions and artists climb into my head, I go into full festival mode where I’m simply thrilled at being overwhelmed by the local arts community.
Being an artist isn’t an easy profession, even if many on the outside feel that they had a choice and simply have to bite the bullet. That they have a choice is arguable and to produce excellence year after year, often with few rewards and never under ideal circumstances, can be daunting and not for the fainthearted.
And yet they go full tilt as they battle extreme circumstances like pandemics or vitriolic social media, all in the name of art.
More than anything, whatever anyone says, we cannot resist them. For me it is a huge blessing and privilege to witness and write about our uniquely original creatives.
Post-festival, an overview of the festival is always a personal reminder of and reflection on everything extraordinary, yet it’s tough to choose which among all those actors and productions, to highlight. There are simply too many that demand attention and especially this year, the scope was exceptional.
I always feel I want to bring something of the flavour of a particular festival to those who weren’t there. Perhaps one of my favourite pieces might pop up somewhere and a reader might be encouraged to go, or even more ideally, someone who has always thought about festivals but never attended might be encouraged to go.
The enchanted Die Swartmerrie withTheo Witbooi and Chantell Phillipus. Pictures: Ryan Dammert.
I have to start with Karoo Kaarte. It’s one of the dream projects of the KKNK, simply ticks all the boxes and grows more impressive every year since its first inception with special mention of last year’s winning production, Droomkrans Kronieke, which landed with such impact because of its energy and precision. How can you not win when developing the underdeveloped artistic talent of the previously disadvantaged by implementing a programme that empowers those who wish to make it in the arts.
It’s inspiring and this year’s production, Die Swartmerrie, is a site-specific piece set on dilapidated terrain with a set of train tracks, an imagined train, and a rundown platform. Two people, a man and a woman (Theo Witbooi and Chantell Phillipus) are waiting, both traveling but not with the same destination in mind. There is a past, the tracks and possible journey points to a future, but this notion disappears with the wind.
It is breathtakingly beautiful and hauntingly gripping as the two talk and tackle their issues with delicate determination.
Afrikaans is an especially emotive love language and when spoken in the specific Karoo accent, warm and intimate, the sounds are as captivating and meaningful as the actual words being spoken.
I was surprised by this couple alone on stage and also electrified that the team (in this instance Neil Coppen – a facilitator of the whole project with Vaughn Sadie – and Oudtshoorn’s Tiffany Saterdacht) decided to go this route but, of course, this is a company packed with the unexpected, and hopefully it is a production that will become an institution in Oudtshoorn and won’t be limited to the festival. You don’t want to miss out on these performances and such a quality production. They should keep pushing the repeat button and keep it as part of their arsenal.
Karoo Kaarte further packed a punch with itsart exhibitions, as well as walking tours done by young Oudtshoorn inhabitants all participating in turning the town’s current and future narrative into an inclusive one. The community is constantly gaining strength thanks to Coppen and Sadie who have invested their creativity in this wonderful way, all the while bringing their local learners on board.
It’s a marvellous investment in the future of this town (and hopefully others across the country will follow) and fingers crossed that a smart investor will see the potential going forward.
Because we were born in such large numbers, our generation is referred to as the baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and probably that’s why ageing and the lifestyles of those growing older has become part of today’s theatre language. We are also fortunate to have some amazing artists who keep on practising their craft while ignoring any barriers that might come their way.
They know how to choose, break out and try new things and simply keep audiences flocking to their performances. Names like Sandra Prinsloo, Antoinette Kellermann, Jana Cilliers, Elzabe Zietsman, Amanda Strydom not only arrive with new productions, they’re also constantly adding skills to their resumés.
Cilliers took up playwrighting for the first time with Veelhoek, a two-hander with herself and Ludwig Binge directed by Marthinus Basson, and the wisdom and writing were quite overwhelming. Who would have thought that, apart from all her other accomplishments, she would now add writing to the list – and then perform it with such clarity as she tells a story that lies close to the heart?
Zietsman is another one who keeps shifting those barriers and I am so delighted that she has added the magnificent Tony Bentel to accompany her on stage. He is one of those pianists who brings much more than just the music to the performance and it shows. Vier Panado’s en ‘n Chardonnay again has Zietsman expounding on life, singing brilliantly and with heart – and cherishing cabaret as it should be performed. The content, which deals with resilience,needs hardly any acting by this actor. Most of it is probably her life which she has shared heartily and hastily over the years. And she will always rise…
Do we need to say anything more about those two great dames, Sandra Prinsloo and Antoinette Kellermann? How lucky are we to witness them in performance after performance as they just keep surging ahead.
Die stoele with Antoinette Kellermann and Chris van Niekerk. Picture: Hans van der Veen.
Kellermann tackled the Ionescu tour de force Die Stoele, accompanied by a much-too-rare performance by Chris van Niekerk. Marthinus Basson adds genius to the production, which can be seen over and over again as it deals with something we all have to confront – LIFE. The content might be terrifying but to watch, quite hysterical. As always Kellermann is in with everything she’s got and what she does with her body tells a story all its own.
Goed wat wag om te gebeur with an actress I would love to see more of, Emma Kotze and Gideon Lombard.
She’s also a part of the magnificent cast (Kellermann, Emma Kotze and Gideon Lombard) of Philip Rademeyer’s Goed Wat Wag Om te Gebeur. I had seen the English version most recently but also this one a few times, and this latest run proved how good theatre improves with time. It’s the best the production has been and I know the director agrees.
Prinsloo brought her masterful Master Class, a piece of classical theatre, to the festival and, also as is her nature, she teamed up with the exceptional David Viviers in a Teksmark original Op die hoek van Styx en River is Noraper Abuis met die Dood Oorgeslaan (playwright Henque Heymans). It’s a novel work which showed flickers of what it could be in time (always a scarce commodity).
Like Rademeyer’s Goed Wat Wag Om te Gebeur, Monsters, (produced, directed, adapted and translated by Tinarie van Wyk Loots) which has had runs at other festivals previously, found a remarkable rhythm that lifted the text and the performers into another realm . It was rewarding to experience and again I was reminded what a precious entity the different circuits are because single theatres cannot afford to take many risks and festivals add an extra buffer in this precarious world – to the benefit of arts audiences.
Michele Burgers in Monsters. Picture Stephanie M Gericke.
We haven’t seen much of the versatile Michele Burgers, who will hopefully return to stage more often in the future and who was beautifully supported by the talented René Cloete, Ntlanhla Kutu and Elton Landrew.
Die Vegetariër with Tinarie van Wyk Loots and Melissa Myburgh who as young actress has shown her mettle magnificently . Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht
Smartly directed by yet another multi-talented artist, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, she also featured in Jaco Bouwer’s hard-hitting Die Vegetariër (adapted and translated by Willem Anker) which also benefited from another run, as well as in the latest probing Anker text, Patmos, also brilliantly staged and directed by Jaco Bouwer, who always challenges and pushes boundaries with his choice of productions, casts and presentation.
The visually captivating Patmos with Melvyn Minnaar and Tinarie van Wyk Loots. Picturess Hans van der Veen.
Without these art warriors our art landscape would be barren. They keep us returning to theatres time and again with their unique approach, their determination to do their best under trying circumstances, including a lack of time and money, and simply their excellence.
Nataniël, for example, returned from an extensive tour to New Zealand and Australia during the festival yet put together one of his distinctive shows with flamboyant costumes, mind-blowing text and two musicians (Marcel Dednam on Piano and Leon Gropp on guitar) who created a spectacular rhythm to underpin his songs and singing quite magnificently.
I could go on forever, there were simply too many highlights, yet I cannot go without honourable mentions of the following, no less important than those already mentioned:
Jefferson J. Dirks-Korkee in a return of the soul-stretching Rooilug.
Fietsry vir dommies. Picture: Gys Loubser Hallo, is Bettie wat praat with Dean John Smith.
Marianne Thamm
Solo shows: the return of Rooilug with the delightful Jefferson J. Dirks-Korkee; Fietsry vir Dommies (masterful text by Tiffany Saterdacht and deftly directed by Dean Balie) which showcased the enormous talent of Eldon van der Merwe, who was also rewarded with a Kunste Onbeperk prize for Young Voice. Dean John Smit shone in his now full-length solo production of Hallo, is Bettie wat Praat; the craftily current My Fellow South Africans by Mike van Graan, starring the physically and mentally dextrous Kim Blanché Adonis; Vuisvoos, maar nog regop, where journalist Marianne Thamm delivers a gloves-off and much needed monologue, incisive if laugh-out-loud, on the state of the nation; a shout-out to much missed director, Jenine Collocott, who teamed with actor Klara van Wyk to present the hysterical Monika, it’s me:
The mesmerising ‘n Lewe in die dag van ‘n vrugtevlieg ensomeer with David Viviers and Wessel Pretorius. Picture: Hans van der Veen The Old Man Who Thought He Had a Dog with Merwe van Gent and Angelique Filter.
Double-up: David Viviers and Wessel Pretorius returned as a popular duo in a follow-up to their successful Klara Maas with ‘n Lewe in die die dag van ‘n vrugtevlieg, ensomeer and hopefully many more encores in the future, they were missed; an innovative new duo, Stellenbosch students Angelique Filter and Merwe van Gent, soared with the tragicomedy The Old Man who thought He had a Dog;
The delightfully funny Marc Lottering.KG Mokgadi- Weighing In.
Stand-up (not my speciality) yet: Who can resist the always energetic and enthusiastic funny man Marc Lottering who always delivers?; as well as my comic standout of the festival, KG Mokgadi. It feels as if these two have something more to say than just one-liners.
Ken Jy Vir Dewie with , Joshwin Dyson, Crystal Donna Roberts and Robert Hindley
Productions: The original Ken Jy Vir Dewie was cleverly staged with themes that target the whole family and as the play was dealing with bullying, the setting for everyone, actors and audience alike, was a classroom; and again, it was directed by yet another versatile artist, Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, who has exchanged Dowwe Dolla for Ouma, again a sign of the times. She cleverly started the play outside with audience and cast waiting to enter the classroom!;
The joyous Braam en die engel with Rehane Abrahams, De Klerk Oelofse and Timothy Isaacs. Picture Hans van der Veen
And Craig Morris grabs the attention in Die Rooi Ballon.
Children’s Theatre: It’s not something I usually see at festivals but, as I did, I was encouraged by the effort made by the KKNK to look after these tiny tots who are of our more enthusiastic audiences: My favourites included Braam en die Engel and Rooi Boeties.Watch out for them as they might travel.
Dance: is back with brilliance because of the clever choice of productions, only two of them but with some of the most innovative names in contemporary dance: Dada Masilo who choreographed one of three pieces, Salomé, for Joburg Ballet; and Grant van Ster and Shaun Oelf with the Figure of 8 Dance Collective (pictured), who brought in other creatives like Nico Scheepers on text, Andi Colombo on lights and Franco Prinsloo on original music. Both companies were sublime.
Lucky Pakkie (Packet): Thanks to the brilliant team of Llandi Beeslaar and Stephanie Gericke, this is another of the KKNK delights because of their dedication and hands-on approach. It needs that because what you have is three lucky packets of four 15-minute productions each; the three sections embrace easy viewing to soft touch to pushing the envelope as much as possible, and artists who cannot manage a full production or perhaps just want to say what they need to say in this time and on this platform are vetted and included in a fun-filled programme.
The original Karli Heine. Picture by Stephanie M Gericke
There are too many to name, but for starters … what about Karli Heine, who turned herself into a pot plant and blew my mind … for script, performance and imagination!
It is impossible to cover everything and I haven’t given the art exhibitions a mention, even though curator Dineke Orton again broke down barriers and took us on a visual trip. But these are just some of my thoughts on a festival that felt like one joyous merry-go-round. Try and catch some of these through the year as they travel to different theatres and festivals.
Here’s holding thumbs!
And finally, on the last day, even the weather seemed out of sorts…
The luminous Sophie Joans in a solo performance of a play she has written.
Theatre review of ÎLE finishing this weekend at Sandton’s Theatre on the Square by DIANE DE BEER
PICTURES: PHILIP KUHN
ÎLE
WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY: Sophie Joans
DIRECTED BY: Rob van Vuuren
DATES: Today at 7.30pm; tomorrow at 5pm and 8pm
When you’ve been around in the arts for as long as I have, it’s always an unexpected thrill to discover a new talent.
Solo performances are obviously a handy talent to have in your bag of tricks because of the precarious nature of theatre and the performing arts. If you have to rely solely on managements, festivals and directors to keep your career going, it could be disastrous – and tough on your anxiety levels.
With the ability to write and perform, you can create your own work, pack a bag and travel from stage to stage or whatever entertainment platform you prefer. If you have presence, which is something that’s difficult to explain, (you either have it or you don’t), it’s a gift that should be cherished.
Sophie Joans has all of the above and more. It’s a powerful package. She’s also obviously smart to not go it completely alone but to have the skilled Rob van Vuuren on board, someone who has made the stage his home, as director.
She bounces on stage bubbling with energy and enthusiasm and launches into a travelogue with Mauritius and her mother as the main destinations – and right from the start, she holds your attention with a smart and hilarious script. She taps into the ever-fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, where the one is wise if weatherbeaten and the other knows all the answers and doesn’t want to be prompted on how to proceed in life.
We all recognise family foibles in some fashion, but this is where the writing is witty and wise. Yes, it sounds hellish and many of us will think of our mothers and their lesser indiscretions with relief, but the way Joans reflects on and rants about her family is so cleverly charged, even when it dangerously skirts the edges, that there’s always something to hold onto as the younger Joans finds a way to explore her mother’s sometimes ferocious guidance.
It’s all about family narratives, the way mothers and daughters pass on a specific legacy that never seems to change. We all know how damage is done by those who have experienced that same pain themselves. We just have to look at the world we live in today to find all the examples needed.
While all of this might seem way too serious for someone who started in stand-up comedy, with some tweaking she has turned her sights to a more specific stage. Having just come from an arts festival, I know how exposed the stand-up stages can be, so she obviously knows how to handle a critical crowd.
This is something quite different. She presents Île as quite a personal story, enters the stage with very little but two large boxes which she moves around, and is aided by the best weapons: her words and her warmth.
She’s a storyteller, someone who holds her audience with confidence, and with a generosity and a gentle yet gregarious approach to her performance. She aims straight for the heart. If you can possibly make it in the time left over (it only runs till Saturday), Joans is a winner.
And I can’t wait to see where and how she goes from here. We’re a rather small theatre community, so when someone with such obvious performance genes hits all the right notes, it’s a time to celebrate and embrace.
She has travelled this play from small beginnings to world stages so obviously she has made a huge splash, but for me she’s the new kid on the block. And I could not be more delighted!
Thanks Daphne Kuhn (producer and artistic director of Theatre on the Square), your theatre smarts are always appreciated.
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