Matthew Simpson
I discovered the virtues of the Independent Armchair Theatre one night when a friend and I stumbled out of Stones in the early hours of the evening, looking for somewhere to have another drink. I’d seen it a number of times before but for various reasons had never actually gone inside. But it was cold, Stones was dull and we needed another drink.
The Armchair provided exactly what we needed at that time of the morning – a comfortable seat out of the windy chill and probably one of the best jazz duos I’ve seen for awhile.
The ambience of the place is created by the variety of brightly coloured sofas and armchairs that inhabit its space. They lounge on a gradual procession of four levels, built on a raised wooden platform, which ensures that one is able to see everything on the stage or the big screen in the front. In one corner stands a bookshelf storing a healthy mixture of written material, from poetry to local magazines, old paperbacks and a rugged Persian carpet, all of which creates the ambience of a bohemian living room. The most enticing feature is, of course, the bar from which one is also able to buy a cappuccino, a prerequisite, I believe, when watching a movie.
Being able to drink a beer or a coffee (and even smoke!) while watching a show, is a service long overdue and was the seed for an idea which took root and eventually grew in the minds of Carl Reynolds and Jess and Chris Morgan when they were on the road back to Cape Town after a December holiday out of town.
“Jess and I had just quit working and we were wondering what we were going to do with ourselves,” says Reynolds.
“We’d decided to get a movie out when we got back and started talking about the idea of cinemas and saying how nice it would be to sit in a place where we could watch movies in comfort. Well, we came into Obs’ one day for lunch and we were still talking about this idea, but not seriously. Then we saw the empty space and decided to take the leap. We got hold of the guy who owns it and opened this place.”
At first they showed nothing but movies, usually cult classics like My Own Private Idaho and Raising Arizona. They also began exploring the kind of cinema which we seldom see in South African theatres – cinema from different parts of Africa, as well as films by local independent film- makers – the kind of exposure difficult to acquire from an industry which worships Hollywood.
At this stage none of them were considering the theatre as anything more than a place to watch movies, but people started approaching them with ideas, excited by the space and the willingness of its owners to listen. So they broadened the scope of their vision.
The Armchair has since steadily become a platform for acts which, on the whole, are attempting to create some creative excitement in a town besieged by cultural complacency arising from a dearth of decent venues.
Since it shifted its focus, the Armchair has been host to art exhibitions, theatre and local bands and has the Cape Comedy Club performing every Sunday evening. But the Armchair is at its best when it hosts events exploring the fuzzy lines between art forms.
Not for Sale was such a show. It featured Brendan Dickerson’s intricately assembled acoustic bronze sculpture, accompanied by a double bass and projected scenes of monotonous human activity. Another was The Cement Splicer, a multimedia event which combined the talents of DJs, VJs and artists and where the Armchair became a kind of independent chill-room.
More recently they hosted the return of the hugely successful Not the Midnight Mass, Graham Weir, Tina Schouw, Adrian Galley and Christine Weir’s masterful interweaving of traditional a cappella sound with irreverent social comment and comedy theatre.
In the end what makes the Armchair truly unique is its unusual ability to defy definition, thereby placing itself firmly in the driving seat of contemporary cultural activity.
But mostly it’s a great place just to kick back, have a smoke and be fabulously entertained.
The Independent Armchair Theatre is on Lower Main Road, Observatory. Tel: (021) 788-6415