THEATRE: Guy Willoughby=20
GRAHAM WEIR is one clever, talented, protean man of=20 theatre. In a number of shows of his own and others’=20 devising, he’s proved he can act, sing, dance and think=20 on his feet — no mean achievement in the local=20 performing arts world.=20
Brief Descriptions is his one-man, award-winning view of=20 human weirdness, now revived in Cape Town at that=20 atmospheric upper room, Elaine’s. Seeing the show and=20 sampling the wealth of curries on offer is a fine start=20 to a sojourn in Observatory — Cape Town’s laid-back=20 answer to Rockey Street.=20
Weir performs six sketches, clever, artfully-constructed=20 vignettes of local urban types. These are all people=20 under duress. Each character tells, or tries to tell,=20 his peculiar story; each character impresses, by his=20 courage and resilience. There the resemblance between=20 them ends.=20
The opening set, Mute Voices, describes three people who=20 struggle physically to speak, to articulate their harsh=20 experiences. Rude Awakenings is the oddly funny tale of=20 a man struggling to catch a bus in Louis Botha Avenue –=20 the privations he experiences, the rudeness and the=20 violence, remind one of why some people tire of living=20 in Egoli.=20
Jasmine, set in a nightclub, is the sadly comic come-on=20 of a penniless Elsies River queen; From His Window a=20 bizarre monologue of a man paralysed, lying prone in a=20 park, ignored, reviled, eventually carted off to the=20
Here, Weir’s sense of theatre is strongest, as he gives=20 movement to the victim’s tortured consciousness. This=20 man may be grounded on the pavement, but in thought he’s=20 near the stars.=20
At his best, Weir’s sketches are much more than=20 monologues: he creates potent sound-and-movement images,=20 images that are theatrical, in the best sense of the=20 word. Like I said, he’s a man of the theatre. Go and see=20