theatre
GuyWilloughby
Cape Comedy Collective, Armchair Theatre, Observatory. Every Sunday giggle at a line-up of comics at their home venue. On Sunday January 27 guffaw at the first of a new Month That Was series, a monthly comic look at current events (and non-events) with Stuart Taylor, Petra Sheiber, Nik Rabinowitz, Melanie Jones, Warren Harding and Mark Sampson. Every Wednesday the collective is at Doodles Deli Caf, Parklands (Tel: 556 4089). On Fridays titter at the Smirnoff Sessions, a line-up of up-and-coming comics from the comedy development sessions, at The Curve, Bijou Theatre, Lower Main Road, Observatory (More info:Tel: 447 1023). On Saturdays catch the early comic show at Savannas, Table View (Tel: 447 1023). On Wednesday evenings attend free comedy-development classes at Cape Town Theatre Laboratory, Woodstock. Tel: 447 1023.
Comedy Warehouse, Somerset Road, Green Point. Enjoy comedy every night of the week in Green Point’s playland.Every Sunday croon along to Soul Survivors, Mike McCullough’s musical show that celebrates the stars of soul music since the Sixties. Bookings: Tel:425 2175.
Concert Hall, Baxter Theatre Centre.Until January 25 enjoy the University of Cape Town’s Summer School presentation, Mozart on Stage, a course of lectures and live performances by Angelo Gabbato, an associate professor at the university’s College of Music. This course explores Mozart’s operas, with extracts performed by some of Cape Town’s best-known Mozart singers and members of the Cape Town Opera Studio, the Cape Town Opera Chorus and the UCT Opera School. From January 28 to February 9 toe-tap to Milestones to the Millennium, the latest in a string of hit shows by cover-show king Mike McCullagh, which covers five decades of rock’n’roll hits. With McCullagh are keyboardist James Dobson, guitarist Jason Gulle, vocalists Christian Marais and Brigitte Mitchell and bass player James McCullagh. Bookings: Tel: 685 7880 or Computicket.
Evita se Perron, Darling station, Darling. See the music listings on page VIII for details of the All That Jazz Festival from January 25 to 27. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.evita.co.za. Tel: (022) 492 2831.
Joseph Stone Auditorium, Klipfontein Road, Athlone. Until January 26 rush to The Beggar’s Opera, a rumbustious retelling of John Gay’s great story of love, deception and thievery, reset in 1720s Cape Town and mounted by the South African Academy of the Performing Arts the same team that mounted a crosscultural Carmen and the Mysteries at Spier and London in 2000/01. The production goes to Perth, the United Kingdom and the United States later this year. Direction is by Mark Dornford-May and Charles Hazelwood. Bookings: Tel: 637 1268 or Computicket.
Main Theatre, Baxter Theatre Complex. Until January 27 laugh along with Scribble, the miraculous musical, a funny, heart-warming South African comedy. From January 31 to March 2 split your sides at Running Riot, Paul Slabolepszy’s new comic-jock play starring Bill Flynn and Slab as the ouks you loved/loathed in Heel against the Head, this time tackling the Comrades marathon in more ways than one. It also stars Michele Levin, Marisa Sarfatti and Anthony Bishop, with direction by Tim Plewman. Bookings: Computicket or Tel:685 7880.
Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, Maynardville Park, Wynberg. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on stage here see Theatre Pick of the Week. On Sundays until February 17 be enchanted by Giselle, the ever-popular ballet about a nobleman, Count Albrecht, and his love for a peasant girl, Giselle. Bookings: Tel: 421 7695 or Computicket.
On Broadway, Somerset Road, Green Point. Until January 26 and from January 30 to February 2 marvel at Natanil in Kimono Jazz, a new cabaret of jazz, blues and torch songs, evergreen classics and original songs, inspired by “a minimalist lifestyle, a love for jazz and an extensive Eastern wardrobe”. Natanil is supported by Charl du Plessis (keyboards), Corne Dannhauser (bass) and Vinnie Henrico (drums). Costumes, always a Natanil feature, are by James Edward Moulder. On Sundays and Tuesdays enjoy the regular Mesdemoiselles Legacy and Slaptsilli in their drag show The Immaculate Collection, featuring “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”. Every Monday enjoy Pieter-Dirk Uys in his satiric revue Foreign Aids, which wowed overseas audiences last year. Website: www. onbroadway.co.za. Bookings: Computicket or Tel: 418 8338.
On the Side, Artscape Theatre Centre, Foreshore. Every Tuesday and Thursday catch Theatresports, the interactive show of hilarious comedy and Artscape’s longest-running theatre event. Bookings: Tel: 465 6691/ 083 440 3961.
Opera House, Artscape Theatre Centre, Foreshore. You now have until February 9 to purr at Cats, a fine production of the smash-hit Lloyd-Webber musical featuring an excellent local cast. The show has been extended by two weeks due to standing ovations and an unprecedented demand for tickets. Bookings: Tel: 421 7695 or Computicket.
Sanlam Studio Theatre, Baxter Theatre Complex. Until January 27 place bets on Marc Lottering in Big Stakes and Slap Chips, directed by David Kramer and showcasing the sparkling talent of one of our most assured funnyfolk. Bookings: Tel: 685 7880 or Computicket. From January 31 take in No Room for Squares, directed by Robert Coleman. It’s a one-man show with Coco Merckel and a three-piece jazz band that takes audiences on a bus ride through the notorious Newclare and Westbury townships of Johannesburg. Bookings: Tel: 685 7880 or Computicket.
Spier Summer Arts Festival, Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch: Delight in opera with an African aesthetic this week. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, directed by Paul Stern, plays on January 27. It stars Sibongile Mngoma, Brad Liebl, Amapondo and the Friee Flight Dance Company also see story on page II. Opening on January 25 and repeating on January 26, 28, 30 and February 1 and 2 is Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Directed by Paul Stern, the production features Jannie Moolman as the dashing Lieutenant Pinkerton and exquisite Japanese soprano Kuniko Endo as the geisha, Butterfly, with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Kalajdzic. Check the times for the Spier train that runs to the estate. Bookings: Computicket or Tel: 809 1165.
Theatre on the Bay, 1 Link Street, Camps Bay. Be enthralled by the enduring appeal of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit The Mousetrap, now completely sold out in Cape Town. Book now for a return season from April 2 to 13. It stars Ashley Dowds, Paddy Canavan, Roger Dwyer, Craig Jackson, Tessa Jubber, Adam Pike, Lee-Anne Sheperd and Malcolm Terrey. Every Sunday until February 24 lap up the verve, talent and sheer chutzpah of Offbeat Broadway II, a cabaret starring Paul du Toit, Lindy Abromovitz and the mercurial Anton Luitingh. It’s run has been extended due to popular demand. Bookings: Tel: 438 3300 or Computicket.
VIP Room, Artscape Theatre Centre. On January 26 and 27 attend The Write Attitude, a two-day workshop hosted by Daniel Dercksen, which takes aspirant writers through the process of drafting a script for a feature film, a television production or a stage play. Information and registration: Tel: 425 5355. E-mail: aladar@ mweb.co.za. Website: home. mweb.co.za/al/aladar.
Theatre pick of the week
A Midsummer Night’sDream
Maynardville Open-Air Theatre
Until February 23
“What fools these mortals be”, Shakespeare’s shade might muse observing the outr settings directors endlessly choose at Maynardville for his plays. By relocating Dream perhaps the play most often performed here these past 40 years as a late-1960s summer of love, director Fred Abrahamse gives this magical comedy a paradoxically up-to-date spin.
That over-wrought, over-determined decade has never been more popular, and Abrahamse’s bright, energetic and playful production in look, feel and sound feeds right into today’s New Age, neo-hippy, global-trance movement/music thang, and thus should score with young audiences. Abrahamse has the benefit of a truly entrancing sound and laser show (courtesy of Charl-Johan Lingenfelder and Dave Cathcart), which evokes both a fairy world and an open-air thrash at Silverstroom or Glastonbury and maybe even Woodstock in the United States.
Sadly, rain cut short the show on opening night, but suffice to say the youthful casting of the young lovers in rebellion against their unhip parents works nicely. Quirky comedienne Stacy Sacks (Helena), fey Victoria Maritz (Hermia), sullenly ardent Steve Waite (Lysander) and Mark Elderkin in fetching purple radiate youth’s hormonal idealism, although Elderkin needs to unlearn what is best described as a drama-school Shakespeare manner.
Warrick Grier and Anthea Thompson hoary veterans in this gen-X production spar engagingly as the fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania, although Thompson’s gifts of vocal mimicry need reining in: her voluble Titania apparently suffers from a multiple-personality disorder. The “rude mechanicals”, mounting the world’s first definitively awful amateur-dramatics play, are charming in a distractedly dope-headed way, with Rob van Vuuren as Bottom the ass-headed weaver giving a particularly rich, vital and hilarious reading.
I’m not sure why Alexander Duncan’s fairy bell-boy Puck grunts like an adenoidal warthog. In fact, overall given the undoubted infectious charm of the show one suspects a rather slack directorial hand.
Were the actors given too free a rein with interpretation (and diction) for the production’s good? Rest assured: this Dream will divert and amuse. Go, and take your rainproof duvet. Guy Willoughby
FINE ART
Chris Roper
Artscape Theatre Centre, Foreshore, Cape Town. To coincide with the Artscape production of Cats, Rose Korber presents Cats: The Exhibition, variations on the feline form by 20 artists, including William Kentridge, Norman Catherine, Nina Romm, Xolile Mtakatya, Louis Jansen van Vuuren, Francine Scialom Greenblatt, Paul du Toit and Nicolaas Maritz. Until February 28. Tel: 438 9152.
Association for Visual Arts, 35 Church Street. The association hosts solo exhibitions by two new artists. Gerontophobia features oil paintings by Zimbawean artist Marc Standing, of which he says: “In this body of work I have tried to embody elements concerning youth, old age and death.” Salt in the Wound consists of mixed-media works by Jacki McInnes-Graham. The show appears to be about the consequences to women of decisions they have made, but what these decisions are to do with is not specified. Both shows look intriguing. You can also find a selection of craft drawn from Wola Nani projects, created by women living with HIV/Aids, on display upstairs at the association. All shows run until February 9. Tel: 424 7436.
Auto Atlantic Claremont, Fedsure on Main, corner of Main and Campground roads, Claremont. Into the Great Wide Open is an exhibition of large photographic works by Jeremy Jowell that capture the colours and contrasts of Namibia. Until January 30. Hours: Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm; Saturdays, 9am to noon. Tel: 425 2266.
Azara, Heritage Square, 92 Bree Street. Mandalas is a hanging of Alex Hamilton’s paintings. And, incidentally, taste some truly excellent food in a restaurant that’s become one of Cape Town’s finest. From January 28 to March 28. Tel:426 5094.
Bang the Gallery, 21 Pepper Street, Cape Town. The current exhibition is a group show, Krishna Smiles Flowers Bloom. Bang’s new hours are Mondays, 11am to 5pm; Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 5pm; Fridays, 11am to 4pm; Saturdays, 10am to 1pm. Tel: 422 1477.
Bell-Roberts Gallery, 199 Loop Street. Love and Desecration is a series of large photographs of imaginary bands, mostly centred on the form and face of artist Veronique Malherbe. It’s a study in the hypertrophied narcissism of artists (music artists, of course), and perhaps also gestures towards the unfailingly incestuous nature of South African culture. Malherbe’s Anarchic Harmony collective plays a supporting role in the works. Until February 9. Tel: 422 1100.
Clock Tower Gallery, Clock Tower Precinct, V&A Waterfront. Paintings by Derric van Rensburg, Andrew Cooper, James Yeats, Shelagh Price, Candy le Sueur and others are on display. Tel: 674 3064.
ColdRoom Gallery, 143 Harrington Street, Gardens. See photographs by Grada Djeri until February 18. Tel:422 1100.
Dorp Street Gallery, corner of Dorp and Ryneveld streets, Stellenbosch. The gallery hosts an exhibition of watercolours by Gauteng artist Ulrich Schwanecke. He is famous for his depictions of South African landscapes and in this show see paintings with abstract design features superimposed on the landscapes. Until February 4. Tel:887 2256.
Elsie Balt Art Gallery, Evita se Perron, Darling. Nicolaas Maritz shows new glass paintings, a complicated art medium in which layers of colour are applied in reverse on glass works. The paintings are described as “ethno-centric punk, zesty and zippy”. Until February 24. Tel: (022) 492 2831/51.
The Framery Gallery, 67a Regent Road, Sea Point. See paintings by Bill Mitrovic, Beezy Bailey, Jenny Nothard, Herbert Wiedergut, Elizabeth Robertson, Tyrone Appolis and others. Tel: 434 5022.
Gallery Number 10, 10 Harbour Road, Hermanus. Cher van Schouwen shows works on canvas that are an “exploration of self-contours, colours, space and balance”. Until February 1. Tel: (028) 312 2509.
Greatmore Studios, 47-49 Greatmore Street, Woodstock. Janet Ranson exhibits paper works until Thursday January 31. For more information call Tel: 790 3422.
Joo Ferreira Fine Art, 80 Hout Street, Cape Town. Interim is an exhibition of drawings by Mark Hipper that runs until February 2. Hipper’s work is always beautiful and thoughtful. Website: www.artjoao.co.za. Tel: 423 5403.
Le Bazaar, 98 Long Street. The Garden Route Collection: A French Focus on South African Design. This show features all manner of crafts and craftspeople, including Brnek Cholewska’s glass furniture; Leslie-Ann Hoetz’s intriguingly termed “harnessed fire”; Jaco Hofman, Mike Kaplan, Grant Marshall and Dave Stephenson’s turned wooden bowls; David Johanson’s sculpture and pewter cutlery; Neil Marshall’s fittings of aluminium and indigenous woods; Thijs Nel’s Karoo clay sculptures; Haegar Schultz’s glass art; Marianne Wardle’s glass-and-platinum tableware; and Susqya Williams’s natural fibre weavings. Until the end of February. Tel: (044) 879 2899.
Natale Labia museum, 192 Main Road, Muizenberg. Telling Stories consists of works drawn from the permanent collection of the South African NationalGallery. The works all tell stories: some clearly, some ambiguously. Until February 17. Tel: 456 1628.
National Library of South Africa, 5 Queen Victoria Street. Micro Macro is the work of 19 Canadian and 32 South African and Namibian printmakers. The print techniques on display include etchings, drypoint, linocuts, woodcuts, cardboard cuts, mixed media and tile prints, and the themes are varied. Until March 15. Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm. More information: Tel: 424 6320.
The Photographers Gallery za, 87 Kloof Street, Gardens. See photographs by Jenny Altshuler, Beyers du Toit, Massimo Cecconi, Pierre Crocquet and Stan Engelbrecht. The gallery also holds a collection of unframed work by various photographers. Tel: 422 2762.
The Pinnacle, corner of Burg and Castle streets. Cape Town Tourism presents Absolut Cape Town, showcasing the best of Cape Town’s home-grown creativity. It features art by Conrad Botes, Shirley Finta, Peter Hugo, Gemma Orkin and others. Until February. Tel: 426 4260.
Sasol art museum, University of Stellenbosch, 52 Ryneveld Street. Robert Hodgins: 50 Years a Painter. A sample of 50 years of work by one of South Africa’s finest artists. Until February 3. Tel: 808 3691.
South Africanmuseum, 25 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town. A new display at the museum features engraved ochre pieces and bone tools, discovered at the Blombos cave site by Chris Henshilwood and his team. The objects are about 77 000 years old and are some of the most important recent archaeological finds. See the display on weekdays from 10am to 5pm. Tel: 424 3330.
South African National Gallery, Government Avenue, Cape Town. Birds of a Feather explores the universe of birds. It celebrates the rich and diverse collections that now belong to the Iziko museums of Cape Town. Until February 24. Tel: 465 1628.
South African National Gallery Annexe, Government Avenue, Cape Town. Positive Lives: Positive Responses to HIV. This exhibition is a unique and growing collection of photographs that focus on the human stories of those at the heart of the HIV/Aids epidemic. Until March 24. Also on is the Ibhabhathane Project exhibition, featuring the work of pupils and their teachers. Until January 20. Tel: 465 1628.
Spier, Stellenbosch. See Art Pick of the Week. Also on at Spier is an art and craft expo called A Spirit of Place, featuring some of the country’s finest crafters in demonstration. Until January 31. Tel: 809 1165.
Art pick of the week
HelveticaView
Spier Wine Estate
UntilMarch 31
This sculpture biennial is an uneven show, but the good bits make the trip to Spier worthwhile. The best things on show are the works that don’t take themselves too seriously. Nicole Meyer’s oval of erratic sprinklers sends sprays of water jetting out in wildly uncontrolled arcs every one and a half minutes. Her work also proves that people at openings don’t really look at art: half an hour after having the work explained to them, people were still being caught by surprise as they ambled along through the suddenly activating sprinkler.
Jo O’Connor’s immaculate garden of wavy plastic flowers behind a white picket fence comments wryly and wittily on the status of the domesticated Stellenbosch landscape. Jacques Dhont’s Plumber and the Swamp Lady, a sculpture of a loving couple is, like all his work, incredibly beautiful and understated.
Some of the pieces are less successful. Urs Twellman’s fencing in of a slave bell seems painfully obvious and speaks to an outdated appreciation of history. And the big, empty red frame standing in front of the Spier lake is, of course, a landscape clich. But there is still enough interesting work to keep you satisfied as you ramble around the estate.
The show runs until the end of March. For more information call Tel:809 1165. Chris Roper