Moving beyond play readings, the Kultcha Klub takes on Gladiators, sex and life after death
Robert Colman
Anyone who’s looking for an intelligent, stimulating and safe one-night stand should try the Wits Downstairs Theatre in Braamfontein – you’ll find a tireless group of artists, who are launching a festival of 10 original South African plays called, believe it or not, One Night Stand.
The scheme is the product the Kultcha Klub, a group of free spirited theatre practitioners who’ve been conducting open, weekly play readings from the campus venue. Says Kultcha Klub’s founder Lynne Maree: “Everything we do in the theatre is pressurised. We want bums in seats, it’s got to be a commercial success. You can’t fail.”
This is where the Kultcha Klub steps in. It is a theatre project that gives actors, writers and managements the opportunity to do play readings of new works, and classics, without the limitations of big budgets, box office nightmares and make-or-break critics.
Maree says that her original motivation for starting Kultcha Klub was “totally and utterly selfish; to have a good time in theatre as often as possible. I never got a chance to play the parts or direct the plays I wanted to – the fantasies that had made me become an actress in the first place. I wanted to have fun.”
The achievements of this project are far from selfish, but definitely fun. Kultcha Klub, which operates every second Saturday of the month, is one year old and has filled a much-needed gap in the theatre scene. Not bad going for a toddler.
The idea of creating an arena where new work can be showcased is certainly not new. It has been happening, perhaps most successfully, at the Market Theatre Laboratory for the past decade. The gap that Kultcha Klub fills, however, is different to the Laboratory’s. Kultcha Klub is predominantly white. Hopefully things will evolve, but while we’re stuck with this racial divide in South African culture it is a gap that needs filling.
Maree is passionate about keeping young actors working in the theatre; providing continuity. “Many actors may have a lead in a successful show and when it’s all over, what then? We give them somewhere to carry on working, experimenting and growing.” It is also a place where drama school graduates can try their hands at the classics. “The alphabet of acting. It’s not all about workshop or industrial theatre.”
Industrial theatre, however, plays a vital role in Kultcha Klub. A project like this cannot run on passion alone, which is where Jumping Dust comes into the picture. An industrial theatre company run by Jonathon Rands and Brendan Grealy, Jumping Dust sponsors the activities of Kultcha Klub.
Industrial theatre has become one of the only commercially viable theatre forms in South Africa. It is to the credit of Marre, Rands and Grealy to have found such a successful way to pour some of the profits of industrial theatre into developing new talent.
“I’m operating with 2010 in my head, not operating for next Saturday,” says Maree. “The youngsters doing work here are the people who’ll help keep theatre alive in the future and this is a place where they can get the skills of dealing with management, producers, press and the public. Keeping alive a love for theatre. An alternative to the solitary world of technology.”
The trend over the first year has been new South African work, which is where the writers come in. They have an opportunity to hear their scripts read and learn what makes a good play and what doesn’t work. They ask questions like: what is so important about the story that it must be told or that people would want to pay and watch it?
“Writers have difficulty getting their scripts read by management or getting feedback on scripts submitted. We need to nurture new South African writers,” says Maree. To this end one of the first seasons at the Kultcha Klub was a series of 10-minute plays. Without the constraints of having to have a commercial life, these scripts could be developed or discarded. “If a script does have commercial appeal, well and good, that’s great and that’s also why we’re here. A case in point was Comrades Arms by Anthony Ackerman. The script had been ignored by management’s for two years – a script by a reputable playwright with a published collection to his name. As a result of being given a reading at the Kultcha Klub it is on the main festival in Grahamstown this year.”
Mounting a theatre production is an expensive business these days, and Maree also provides a valuable market research service for commercial managements, who can do a test run on a play before taking the risk. “We do a questionnaire. Do you think it’s good? Why? Does it deserve an audience?”
Lastly, and possibly most important, is the audience. Besides the interested parties of actors, writers and producers, the Kultcha Klub has attracted an audience that had stopped going to theatre because of the perennial Jo’burg problem: fear. “I also wanted to create a place for the old audience, mostly elderly women, who are too scared to go to the theatre anymore, who find it too dangerous to drive into town at night, or haven’t got the money. And they’ve been coming.”
One Night Stand definitely puts all of Maree’s principles into practice. The performers are all young, the scripts all original and the design for the festival is a second-year fine arts project, providing students from the Wits fine arts department with a taste of the real world.
The work on offer ranges from drama, comedy and song to physical theatre. It also puts into practice another of Maree’s original intentions: to create a sense of community among actors, writers and directors. Most of the performers double as directors in each other’s pieces.
The festival promises cigarette girls offering sweetmeats and pampering jaded theatregoers. Spontaneous Combustion – virtual theatre events – will be happening in the foyers and on the streets.
On the stage you can meet Martie and her trusted sewing machine Elna in Naai, or Kudu who desperately dreams of becoming a Gladiator. The ultimate lounge crooner will charm the pants off you in Glendini, or a Catholic schoolgirl will can take you on a fantastical journey to hell and back in Birthmark.
If none of the above tickles your fancy you may enjoy a spirit raising experience in Sance. And that’s only half of what’s on offer! So get to the Wits Downstairs Theatre, you may just be in for the best one-night stand of your life.
The One Night Stand line-up includes Liverspread (with Bev Cullinan) and Sick (Nick Boriane) from June 6 to 10; Naai (Gretha Brazelle) from June 13 to 17; Kudu (Antony Coleman); Mung (Rob van Vuuren) and Hat Trick! (Thomas Hall, Denise Stock and Charmaine Weir Smith) from June 20 to 24; Birthmark (Jeanne Watson) and Glendini (Gideon Emery) from June 27 to July 1; and In the Meantime (Makhaola Ndebele) and Sance (Amanda Lane) from July 4 to 8.
For more information hook up with Kultcha Klub online at www.hillonline/kultchaklub. co.za. Or phone the Lynne Maree on Tel: 083 326 2546 or Nicole Able 083 441 9415