Charl Blignaut
Shopping and Fucking, a controversial new theatre production, has, against all odds, ushered in a new era for Johannesburg’s Market Theatre – in the process taking its young cast into uncharted territory.
The play, which contains some of the most explicit scenes ever seen on a local stage, was always going to be a risk, yet was a necessary gamble for the Market Theatre’s management, which is desperate to lure a younger audience to the theatre.
In the run-up to its opening a fortnight ago, however, it seemed as if Johannesburg society was just not ready for Shopping and Fucking, a production that only managed to see the light of day after SL magazine and Diesel clothing pitched in with sponsorship. First the theatre had all its advertising material sent back, the print authorities finally deeming the title Shopping and F***ing fit for publication.
Then the poster for the production – showing three boys standing at a urinal from behind, their pants around their ankles – was banned from the city’s lampposts by the Johannesburg City Council.
By Monday this week, however, the Market could confirm that Shopping and Fucking has not only sold out every night of its run, but its advance bookings are so solid that the play has equalled the mid-1980s advance booking records established by Mbongeni Ngema’s Sarafina, the darling of struggle theatre.
The real surprise is that Shopping and Fucking has not broken box office records on the strength of its controversial nature – which the Market has consistently played down – but on its youth audience appeal.
“It’s just incredible to see auditorium after auditorium of hip young things pack into the theatre every night,” says the theatre’s head of marketing, Nico Brits. “These are generally people we have never seen buy tickets before.”
As a result of the play’s runaway success, the Market has extended Shopping and Fucking’s run by three weeks, and is willing to extend it again if necessary. It is this extension that has resulted in the play’s female lead, Sylvaine Strike, turning down her role as Frankie in the next season of SABC2’s popular sitcom, Suburban Bliss. After her run in the play, Strike will, along with fellow cast member Nick Borraine, be leaving for Paris, where they have been accepted into the prestigious Jacques LeCoq International School of Mime and Movement.
The South African director of the play, Yael Farber, has meanwhile left for New York, where she has been invited to attend a directing course at the Lincoln Centre. News of the play’s success has had her reeling with delight on the other end of a series of long-distance phone calls.
The future is also looking bright for another cast member, multiple award- winning actor Brian Webber, who is about to be seen on the big screen in the British film version of Martin Sherman’s play Bent, a concentration camp drama involving a group of gay men.
The film, which will be released in South African cinemas at the end of June, has received a lukewarm critical response.
But it is a significant breakthrough for a young South African actor – and another indication that Shopping and Fucking has ushered in a new generation of local theatre.
Shopping and Fucking has had its Market Theatre run extended until July 4