Cape Town theatre picks: August 27 2010

A classic play and a classical music festival are on offer this weekend.

• Woyzeck (1834), originally by German playwright Georg Büchner (1834), is a psychological tragedy about a village murder. The story of a man driven by jealousy to kills his partner. The first German literary work whose main characters were members of the working class, the play shows the systematic debasement, even intellectual and spiritual ‘murder,’ of the protagonist and all his class. It has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory dealing as it does with the dehumanising effects of misguided doctors and the military on a young man’s life.

  Taking Daniel Kramer’s adaptation of the classic play, director Lara Foot and company have adapted it further, setting it in a contemporary African landscape. This is Foot’s first new direction project since her appointment as CEO and Artistic head of the Baxter Theatre Centre in January. She is assisted by Johannesburg-based director Mncedisi Shabangu with choreography by Ina Wichterich-Mogane and music by Bongile Mantsai. Newcomer John Ndouma is the singer. The cast, who performed Foot’s Karoo Moose previously, are joined by Rob van Vuuren (SA’s Got Talent, Corné and Twakkie).
  Until September 11. Baxter Golden Arrow Studio, Main Road, Rondebosch. Book at Computicket.

• Unlike most stand-up comedians, Alan Committie is also a fine comic actor who can play roles other than himself. In Dick and I, committee plays Ivan Williams, an incompetent performer, hugely enthusiastic but sadly misguided, who bumbles his way through Shakespeare’s Richard III, playing the entire cast when he is unable to gather his full acting company.

  Committie first performed this show in 1998 and now, 12 years later, he returns to his award nominated text with some timeous updates, revisions ‘and extra funny bits”. He is also joined by the beautiful and talented Jo Galloway (Boeing Boeing, Hairspray), who plays his estranged East European girlfriend, Petrie. Unable to speak a word of English she has to perform the text phonetically.
  Until September 11. Theatre on the Bay, 1A Link Street, Camps Bay. Book at Computicket.

• The South African College of Music (SACM) is celebrating its Centenary with a series of concerts showcasing the many genres at the College which offers degrees and diplomas in African Music, Composition, Jazz, Opera, Western Classical Music and World Music. The music staff includes internationally acclaimed performing artists, academics and composers, some of whom will be performing together with current and past students at this Centenary Festival.

  The diverse programme includes: the UCT String Ensemble; a recital for Organ and Speaker by Mario Nell and Marina Griebenow, the Bacharova Quintet; jazz vocalist Nicky Schrire and friends visiting from Manhattan University; African Music with Dizu Plaatjies; the UCT Symphonic Wind Ensemble conducted by Alexander Fokkens; original works by composer Martin Watt; chamber music co-ordinated by Becky Steltzner; and a workshop production of Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Angelo Gobbato with Kamal Khan.

  Until September 7. The Centenary concerts take place at Baxter Concert Hall, Chisholm Recital Room and Cape Town City Hall. Concert times vary : 3pm, 6pm, 7.30pm and 8.15pm as well as two free lunchtime performances at 1pm. Book at Computicket.