Done London
I think it’s weird that there are two little independent plays with London in their title in the Cape Town ether at the same time. Last night I went to see Done London at The Intimate, and the writer of London Road, Nicholas Spagnoletti, was there too. His play opens tomorrow at the Kalk Bay Theatre.
I have read two very good crits about Done London which are out there, and really, I don’t have much to add. It’s a very sweet and totally watchable production with some lovely performances, particularly by Julia Anastasopoulos, Deborah Vieyra and Mark Elderkin. Francesco Nassimbeni directs.
Yes, the script is a bit thin. Yes, there are the usual Saffer stereotypes, and yes, the play has managed to date itself that quickly, since Saffers are no longer eligible for a two year working visa to the UK. Still. I thought it was delightful. And I think it rang quite true.
It’s great to see a big cast in a tiny, independent production. It’s great to do absolutely no work as an audience but to sit back and enjoy the experience. Mark Elderkin and Deborah Vieyra are hilarious, and Julia Anastasopoulos (spell that after a dop!) delivers a bitter sweet and very real heartsick, homesick, wannabe actress doing a kak job in London. Been there. Done that. So horrible.
Done London is worth the R70 ticket for the enjoyment of a totally ‘unboring’ theatre experience. I think people keep comparing it to a TV sitcom because it is fun to watch. Off you go then. It’s on until this Saturday.
Ah, Ha!Man
I’ve wanted to see this guy for ages now, having heard so much about him, so last night Big Friendly and I went off to the Kalk Bay Theatre to check the Ha!Man out. It was one of those times when you realise that all people, even your most loved ones, occupy different planets. When the lights came on at interval, I broke my rapture and turned to Big Friendly. His look was pure acid. “What total shit!” he said.
I had to take a moment to deal with the shock! I had sat, listening to the Ha!Man improvise vocally, make music, dance to images of grape vines and girl, play his instruments and tap computers, and I had gone into an almost trance! All the while Big Friendly had sat seething beside me. Different strokes. Ovias. I let Big Friendly leave and I scored a lift home with my china, who loves the Ha!Man so much, she had been to the show three nights in a row.
The Ha!Man is very, very interesting indeed. His performance is mostly improvised, and you literally see him looking around at times for inspiration, the what of his next bit. Of course improvisation is exactly what I am passionate about, so it was very exciting to watch that process. I think that what is quite different about music/sound improv is that as an audience member you are much more passive. Which totally worked for me last night; I just sat back and tranced out. But I can see where the potential is for ‘some people’ bf bf, to find it all a bit self-indulgent.
One of the things that was amazing about this experience was how the Ha!Man flies solo. Improv has always been such collaborative work for me; it has always involved more than one person, even if it is just having a stronger, more interactive relationship with the audience. The Ha!Man’s final moment last night was using the audience’s clapping ovation and playing with, and that was really very cool. Up until then it had been much more just watching him do the stuff, which I found both mesmerising and quite inspiring.
A weird little side note: Haman is the bad guy in the Jewish story of Purim, which was celebrated last Sunday. On this Jewish holiday one of the things you do is when the congregation listens to the reading of the story, every time the name Haman is said people make huge noise, with rattles and their voices, so that the sound of his name is totally drowned out.
and I’m not Telling Lies
The first thing that struck me as I walked into the Arena Theatre at Artscape last night was how un-theatre people the audience was. Theatre audiences are a specific kind of somebody, and I normally recognise or know a few people in the crowd. last night I knew one person, and I had never seen him at a play before. We were there to watch magician Stuart Lightbody’s new show, Telling Lies.
I have seen Stuart at least three times before and I have always marvelled at his skill and this show is no different in that respect. He is a super smooth sleight of hander, and he is super cool and sweet with his patter too. It really is like watching a charming, intelligent, sweet talking schoolboy talk you into buying a sick elephant and believing that you need it more than anything else in the world.
His powers of autosuggestion are superb, and while he glibly glides through the demystification of all things magic and supernatural, and explains trickery, lies and deception, he is busy, gently pulling the wool (or in my case blindfold) over our eyes! I got called up last night, was blindfolded, told to think about a few people (or something), while he spoke to the audience and chose three people with three playing cards. Then, miraculously, he got me to say what the three cards were! I have no idea how he did that. The audience was flummoxed and totally impressed, but not quite as impressed as I was!
That was in the first half. The second half was more complicated, and my friend figured out how he did the final trick. Still, it didn’t take away from this young man’s charm and mastery. He is the real deal, and nothing like those creepy magicians you remember from children’s parties when you were small. He’s on at The Arena for the rest of this week!
Young and fresh Romeo and Juliet
In January 2007 I sat down and wrote my first ever post on this blog about a production of Romeo and Juliet. I did not say good things. So, while I sat in the darkened Little Theatre last night, listening to the music and waiting for the show to begin, I had trepidations. What if it was going to be horrible?
The lights came up and I didn’t think it again. This is a totally cool production! What a relief! And what a good job UCT Drama School.
Jacqui Singer directs this huge cast of students in an absolutely watchable, totally understandable, fast paced, moving, stylish production of one of Shakespeare’s most loved, most put on and most quoted plays. To start with, the director has done a most excellent job of cutting the play. Slashed to ribbons, but with all of the important stuff still there, it was a fast paced, just over two hour Shakespeare. Totally manageable for the students, the public audience (on a stinker of a hot night the Little Theatre aircon was like a gift from the gods) and friends and family of the young cast.
The set, designed by Daniel Galloway, is clever and effective; a series of platforms, balconies and walkways, giving the students an excellent opportunity to be physical and interesting, and allowing for small intimate scenes and huge spectacle ones too. Daniel also designed the lights, which looked great.
The costumes, by Leigh Bishop were completely amazing. Everybody looked brilliant in an eclectic mix of old, new, soft and flowing, leather, traditional Elizabethan elements, stylish and trendy. I thought that Romeo, Juliet, Lady Capulet, Mercutio and Tybalt (with all those tattoos) looked brilliant, and Nurse’s costume was a highlight.
And now to the students. I have to say I was mostly pretty damn impressed! I think that Jacqui has worked so thoroughly and generously with them and, although some are head and shoulders better than others, they deliver performances that are filled with integrity and energy. They also deliver on character. Yes, some of them spoke too fast or too softly, some of them slammed about or disappeared, but that’s just like any Shakespeare; heavy on very talented leads, and bit parts that aren’t the best. I am going to single out my favourite favourites.
Romeo, played by James MacGregor, is gorgeous. I really loved his performance. He was the most present, unaffected, young love-sincere Romeo I have seen (and I was swept back to my childhood and how deeply in love I was with Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo played by Leonard Whiting. Oh that bum.) MacGregor keeps all his clothes on and still manages to give us a sexy young thing. He is great. Juliet (played by Rosa Whitcher last night) was also fabulous, in a very different way. She captured Juliet’s teenage youth, and her performance was so natural and unaffected. Her balcony scene was excellent. Mercutio, played by Keeran Blessie, was also great. His swish, camp, articulate and passionate interpretation was magnetic. I loved lady Capulet, played last night by Inke Jaroszynski, who was totally convincing as someone so much older. I also loved Benvolio, played by Glen Biederman-Pam, who had brilliant moments in a largely thankless role, and I loved Friar Laurence, played by Malefane Mosuhli, who was intense and genuine and lovely.
But it was the shining performance of Lerato Motshwarako as the nurse that stole my heart. Yo, that chick can mos act hey? She has got it. In chunks. She was the best part of Macbeki last year, and again, here she radiates in a character older than her by about twenty years, who is funny, touching, quaint, old fashioned, human, and just, huge. Bravo Lerato, you are going places. And the best part is, when you leave drama school you’ll get a chance to play those young leads too!
Lest I sound like a sycophant, let me mention the two things that got on my nerves. I got irritated by the blackouts. Every five minutes there was another one. Let’s rather see those changes and have a blackout at the end, especially since the pace is so good with all those cuts. And then there are those goddamn boots. Please UCT Drama School wardrobe, please, get rid of those big black, knee length boots that need to be hidden away and brought out only for Nazis or Woycheck. Firstly, they make an actor’s legs go all funny and they have to take those ridiculous goose stepping strides. Secondly, they are so mind crashingly loud on that wooden stage. Thirdly, they look so poncy and out of place. I hate those boots!
Let me not dwell on silliness. Good sword fighting (although I always like a bit of blood), excellent crowd scenes, and lovely in between scenes music help make this a fab production of R & J. If you see one Shakespeare this year, choose this one.
The gift of improv
There is no doubt that performing improv (in my case, in the form of TheatreSports) in front of a live audience is one of the most rewarding things you can do on stage. I think it’s because the possibilities are endless, the experience is unique and totally unrepeatable, and there is that short cut to the feeling of magic because you are present, in yourself, totally truthful and responsive.
Improv has become my religion. I find myself sprouting it as a cure-all for everything. If people want to be good leaders they need to know how to improvise. If companies are dealing with change and fear they need improvisation skills. People suffering from presentation anxiety need to learn to improvise. Actors need improvisation as a fundamental tool of their craft. The skills of improvisation and the mindset it can help create change the way people live and respond to things. It’s altogether a more positive, problem solving, cooperative way of being.
So I am so excited and happy that I am going to be facilitating the new TheatreSports improv workshop over the coming two weekends. A group of wannabe improvisers will be gathering for this intense course. Some will be coming because they want to ‘let loose’ and free themselves from inhibitions. Some will be entertaining the fierce desire to join our existing group of players to perform TheatreSports in front of an audience. Some will not even know exactly why they are there until, in a moment, it falls into place. It’s not too late to sign up. Contact me and I’ll share the details.
100 days to go!
It’s a hundred days to go to the soccer world cup! I am sure that all of you want to know why I am even mentioning this, and why I even care, and you would ask if you could see me why I am wearing my ‘I heart SA’ T-shirt with the SA flag on it today.
Well, I have to say, I have been turned around on this SWC thing. In the beginning I was omigod! WTF? I’m going to a desert island. At the time I could think of nothing worse than Cape Town, and South Africa being swamped by a bunch of rowdy foreign soccer thugs, who would be overcharged, under entertained, over liquified, under transported and in my face. In the beginning I was the stereotype of a DWP (depressed white pessimist) that believed nothing would be ready, nobody would come and the SABC would screw it up royally (that part might still come true).
But my involvement with the Engen Phambili road show has changed all that. I have been working with Engen for the past six years, creating industrial theatre plays as part of the road shows that go all over the country and are aimed at Engen petrol pump attendants and cashiers. It is work that I am so proud of and committed to. It is also the most effective work I make. But while my cast of brilliant actors and I have been working at delivering a message of giving great service, pride, loyalty, energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment, I have been learning about the world cup, the way soccer brings people together, the love of the game, the excitement ordinary people feel, and they way that Engen feels about this once in a life time opportunity for South Africa to shine! It’s rubbed off. I am feeling it. Marks Maponyane and Clive Barker do a Q & A around the SWC and they are absolutely inspirational. The audience of petrol pump attendants and cashiers know their soccer, their players, the participating countries, their favourites to win. World cup tickets are cherished and fought over prizes! The South African national anthem is sung with enthusiasm, passion and commitment. I’m in! Boots and all! Woza 2010 soccer world cup! A hundred days to go!
Survivor!
Sandi and the Proteas didn’t. Survive, that is. But unlike the Proteas, who really didn’t ever look like they were in the game against a blazing India today, poor ole Sandi didn’t see it coming! And I felt quite sorry for her actually, unlike the unscratchable itch of irritation I felt for the South African cricket camp. Come on cricket strategists! It doesn’t take brain surgery to work out that a. we need to have some proper spinners in the team when SA play in the sub continent, and b. the Proteas need to know how to play against the Indian spin bowlers. Not rocket science. I am disappointed. Now, it’s time to thank Herschel and send him on his way, and JP Duminy needs to go back to the drawing board. I hate it when the Proteas go two nil down in a three game series.
Know what I think? I think the Proteas could learn some spin from the Survivor contestants. Shoo whee, how was tonight’s episode? What a lot of twisting and turning, back spinning, back pedalling, double talking, back stabbing blind siding and tension making stuff. That Timbila team scared me tonight! And Sandi Schultz was the sacrificial somebody. I think she just tried to keep too low a profile, and she got blitzed. Yo, and that Ashleigh Hayden plays a tough game. She certainly didn’t need those lovely reward pillows; I think she needed to stay awake all night every night to plot and scheme. And then there was poor Louw! His macho sensibilities got hurt man, and it was quite cute, and terribly transparent to see all that stuff at play. At least it’s out there, on the surface. Not like that Ashleigh! A snake in the grass, I tell ya, a real spin bowler.
I was quite freaked out when my favourite, Gys, had to go over to snake-in-the-grass team, so I’m relieved that next week will see the merger. Then it’s every survivor for themselves! Could start to get really interesting. Hmmm. Seems like I’m hooked again! Which is just as well, since I can’t watch the cricket anymore!
Weirdness, and not in a cool way
Every now and then I am shaken out of my generally positive approach to the world by something that disturbs me deeply. Sometimes it’s a needless and senseless crime. Sometimes it is violence to animals and children. Sometimes it’s the gross bullshit we are fed in the media, or our politicians, or drunk drivers, or racists who just assume I also am. Ok, the list is endless.
Today’s positive mood destroyer though, was this picture on News 24. When I first saw it I thought, interesting balaclava for a mugging. But no. It is a model, sporting the latest look on a fashion runway. I kid you not. Now, maybe I’ve got it completely wrong, but I really don’t like what this is saying. It is totally misogynistic, cruel, bizarre and disturbing; weird, but not in a cool way. Is this the way we want to look this winter? I mean, you’ve got to be shitting me! Crocheted ears?? WTF?
Sheesh, and now, a cold!
Hard drive crash, cell phone in washing machine, and now a river of snot and a sore throat. Which would be fine if I wasn’t working this weekend, but, I am. Loverly.
In amongst all this woe though there are some seriously good things. My industrial theatre show is looking totally cool and I love my cast, who have delivered their usual excellence and more. I have scored a new job which is taking me to Dubai at the end of March, and I’ve never been before. Big Friendly and I ran what I thought was a delightful chat/workshop about blogging, at PANSA yesterday. Although only four people attended, it was really fun, for me. It was great talking about meganshead and why and how I blog. It also totally helped that Big Friendly was on hand to explain the technical how of it too. On that side I am super privileged to have him; I know nothing.
Now, if only my nose and eyes would stop running. I am off to rehearsals.
Crash
How many times have you heard someone self righteously proclaim to you that you need to back up your stuff on your computer? It produces a special kind of guilt that’s almost reckless. I imagine it to be a bit like having unsafe sex, with that combination of ‘it will never happen to me’ stupidity and ‘I know it’s wrong and I’ll do it soon, I promise’.
Now I come from a completely different place because Big Friendly is in my life. He actually has backed up my stuff! Not recently enough though to have everything though when my hard drive crashed on Tuesday.
What a weird feeling this is; the half-life of missing writing, records, admin, email, photos, notes, lists, tax, press releases, and especially the things I haven’t thought of yet. It’s like being burgled. You can see the obvious is missing; the TV and DVD are gone, but it’s only later that you discover that the burglars took your passport and reading glasses.
After the shock and sick feeling goes, you just get on with your life, and, it’s possible. Some stuff is gone forever, other stuff can be sent back to you, and it is also a great time to purge and cleanse. There has been stuff on this laptop that I haven’t opened or looked at in years.
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Randomness
