theatre
Alex Sudheim
Backstage, Royal hotel. The swish supper-theatre venue in Durban’s sole remaining five-star hotel hosts one-woman cabaret revue Next Stop. Starring Anne-Marie Clulow, erstwhile member of Ballyhoo and veteran of the stage, the show takes the standard trip down memory lane by including a clutch of showtunes as well as evergreens of popular music. Themed as a trip through New York, Clulow stops at all the famous Broadway theatres, Central Park and even makes a sojourn into a jazz club. The show runs until April 7.
The Barnyard Theatre, Gateway shopping complex. The theatre-in-residence at Gateway is back on the scene with The Rocky Horror Show, the world’s all-time favourite, double-cheese, ultra-glam rock’n’roll extravaganza, which has opened for a two-month run until May 5. For those unfamiliar with the plot, Brad and Janet are two hapless small-town virgins who lose their way on a dark and stormy night and seek help from a transsexual Transylvanian, Dr Frank ‘n Furter, at a haunted castle where time has no meaning. Leading the cast as Frank ‘n Furter is Nick Boraine. Luscious locals Duncan Royce and Tarryn Leek take the roles of Riff Raff and Janet respectively, with Royce also directing. Tickets are available at R75 for shows from Wednesday to Saturday. An extra show a dress-up night with prizes has been added to the regular line-up on Sunday evenings. The buy-one-get-one-free promotion runs on the Tuesday night and Sunday matinee shows. Bookings and info: Tel: 566 3045/6 or [email protected].
Cinema Sublime, Berea Cinecentre. The weekly fix of independent film for Durban’s cineastes, provided every Sunday afternoon, on March 17 screens Bread and Tulips, a lush, feelgood Italian film about the experiences of a repressed, middle-aged housewife. The film starts at 5.15pm and tickets are R18. Tel: 201 6007.
Cityscapes, The Workshop, Commercial Street. In the new dance project of Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, Jay Pather explores alternatives to the traditional sites and sounds associated with Durban. The project is made up of five site-specific dance-theatre performances, which take place every weekend in March. On Sunday March 17 at 3pm, 3.30pm and 4pm, three groups of dancers use the space of Durban landmark the Workshop shopping centre, previously the city’s central train station, whose architecture was uniquely preserved for its transition to downtown playground. Six dancers draw from the carnival atmosphere that surrounds an intimate, sunken coffee shop in this space of variety and kitsch. The dancers combine intimate gestures with burlesque, working with dance forms such as tap, jazz and performance art. Veteran Workshop pianist and Durban legend Ricky Gass will be playing ragtime music to accompany the work. Tel: 261 5518/083 326 3234.
Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, University of Natal, Durban. Growing in strength and stature each year is the university’s annual celebration of the written word, Time of the Writer, which convenes a host of the world’s top wordsmiths here for its final two days on Friday March 15 and Saturday March 16 to celebrate the theme of Migrating Words. On Friday the spotlight falls on The Woman’s Voice In Africa and features prolific Ghanaian writer and academic Ama Ata Aidoo, Senegalese wordsmith Maritou Mbaye Bileoma, also known as Ken Bugul, and Nigerian literary powerhouse Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo. In a session moderated by Margaret Daymond, the writers will read from their work and participate in a panel discussion. On Saturday Sarah Nuttal presents a session titled Writing in Modern-Day Zimbabwe, which features Zimbabwean writers Shimmer Chinodya and Nhamo Mhiripiri. Later in the evening Ashwin Desai examines The Writer as Activist with Egyptian novelist and psychiatrist Nawal El Saadawi. Tickets for the Sneddon presentations are R15 at Computicket or at the theatre one hour before each presentation (R5 for students and pensioners). Website:www.und. ac.za/und/carts. Tel: 260 2506.
Langoustine Theatre by the Sea. Running until April 14 is Under the Covers, the new show by comedy-theatre favourites the Gee Jays. Grant Bell, John Didlick and Gary McKenzie are back on stage with the usual mix of double entendres and cover versions of well-trodden melodies. Joining them is Arnie Field, an addition that allows the Gee Jays to extend their repertoire to include songs sung in four-part harmony. Julie Solomon also guest stars to provide comic relief. Some of the covers include Boys ll Men’s rendition of Yesterday, 10cc’s Things We Do for Love, Joe Cocker’s Unchain My Heart, Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman, Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Huey Lewis and the News’s It’s All Right, Madonna’s Hanky Panky and Sha Na Na’s Good Night Sweetheart. In addition to the usual deal involving a three-course meal, the Langoustine offers a special R65 show-only package. Book at the Langoustine or Computicket. For credit-card bookings call Tel:304 2753.
Playhouse Drama, Smith Street. Peter Schaffer’s acclaimed play Amadeus undergoes interpretation at the hands of Durban production company LouD. See Theatre Pick of the Week. Book at Computicket. Credit-card bookings: Tel: 369 9444. Block bookings for schools: Tel: 369 9497.
Square Space Theatre, University of Natal, Durban. Described as “a hard-hitting, deeply controversial contemporary thriller”, United States playwright Jane Martin’s Keely and Du is being staged in the starkly intimate surrounds of this theatre until March 16. Martin’s play is a gripping, thought-provoking work challenging a fistful of issues: the right to life, the power of forgiveness and the role of the church in issues of choice, politics and morality all come into play. Top Durban thespians Vera Clare and Aldo Brincat play a pair of radical Christian fundamentalists who kidnap a young girl, Keely (Olivia Borgen), who has been raped and wants to have an abortion. The tense story unfolds in the prison-like basement of a suburban neighbourhood, where the kidnappers’ scary plot is revealed, leading to an ultimately horrifying conclusion. The play contains explicit scenes that might offend sensitive viewers. Performances take place nightly at 7.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday. There are no shows on Monday and Sunday. Book at Computicket. More info: Tel: 083 544 2006.
St Anne’s College Theatre, Kloof. Celebrating its 125th anniversary is this reputable high school, staging a Multimedia Rock Opera Spectacular on Friday March 15 and Saturday March 16 and from March 18 to 21. This production integrates elements of song, dance, acting, puppets, physical comedy, film and slides in the form of a theatrical collage that uses a number of spectacular gimmicks and staging devices. Songs range in style from opera and ballad to rock and township musical. All shows are at 7pm with tickets at R20. The show on March is followed by a 125th birthday costume party. Tickets for this evening are R50 and include the performance and drinks and snacks. The theme for the costume party is theatre or film.
Theatre pick of the week
amaDeus
Playhouse Drama
March 19 to 23
Peter Schaffer’s play Amadeus and its Oscar-winning translation into film have been highly acclaimed for their portrayal of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as an eccentric, quixotic and temperamental yet hugely talented man whose gifts were weighed against his strange passions and unpredictable behaviour.
Amadeus is a set work for this year’s high-school curriculum and a local interpretation of the play runs at the Playhouse Drama from March 19 to 23. Recasting the title as amaDeus, Luke Holden and Dawn Harrison of LouD Productions transport the action from the courts of 18th-century Europe to “a surreal playing field somewhere between madness and the streets of Durban’s underground”, yet retain the original import of the play.
Says Holden, “Though modern in setting, this play still examines the universal themes of creativity, decadence, love, betrayal and redemption. Then, as now, corruption, deceit and the creation and destruction of beauty are the order of the day.”
The play also addresses such contemporary concerns as sexuality, safe sex (Mozart is rumoured to have died of syphilis), peer pressure and attitudes to authority.
Tickets are R20 or R15 for students at Computicket. Credit-card bookings: Tel: 369 9444. Block bookings for schools: Tel: 369 9497. Alex Sudheim