Cape Town theatre picks: October 8 2010

From caberet to children’s shows, every audience is catered for this week.

• Situated at the Constantia Waldorf School, tucked away in the Kindergarten building is the only permanent Puppet Theatre in South Africa. The Rainbow Puppet Theatre has been performing to the public every Saturday morning at 10am and 11.15 am for 18 years. The 60-seater painted theatre has a permanent team of five puppeteers complimented with full stage lighting, beautiful glove, rod and shadow puppets and even live music. Although the shows are widely regarded as entertainment for children, parents, grand-parents, aunties and uncles often attend. The puppeteers perform a repertoire of 16 stories including well-known Grimm’s Fairy Tales such as Snow White and Rose Red (running this October), Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel, rotated on a monthly basis. Many people believe that the brothers Grimm actually wrote the famous stories, but they actually collected them from old story-tellers. The stories have passed down through countless generations by word of mouth. Children still have a connection to this story-realm.
  Saturday mornings starting at 10am and 11.15 am. The Rainbow Puppet Theatre, Constantia Waldorf School, Spaanschemat River Road, Constantia. Contact: Alison 021 783 2063 or email [email protected]

• The prolific, eccentric and talented performer Rocco De Villiers (pianist, producer, author and cocktail connoisseur) returns to the Theatre on the Bay (he last appeared in One Rocco One Piano in 2007, followed by It Takes 2 with guitarist Robert Mitchely in 2009) for just nine performances, this time with the inimitable Elzabé Zietsman (actress, songstress, chef, waitress and guest house owner). In One Act, they will relive the magic they first created together 15 years ago, highlight their individual past successes, play in the present and wondering about the future. Expect to hear Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, Henry, Let’s Go Town, Heartbreak Hotel, True Colours and many more unexpected songs, as well as original work. Set and lighting design is by Kosie Smit; musical direction and original music by Rocco de Villiers.
  Theatre on the Bay, Link Street, Camps Bay. Until October 16. Book at Computicket or the theatre box office 021 438 3300.

• The Raiders comedy theatre shows have been running for 21 years, selling out annually at the National Arts Festival ever since 1990. Many of our finest performers have taken a turn: Andrew Buckland (1992), David Kramer (1993), James Ngcobo (1994), Nhlanhla Mavundla (1995) and Rob van Vuuren (2004) to mention a few. To celebrate father and son, Nicholas and Luke Ellenbogen, have remade the original production that started it all off, Raiders of the Lost Aardvark. It is a tale that forces short-sighted, flat-footed and sunken-chested pilot Salty Hepburn to fly an unstable and cantankerous Tiger Moth from Cape Town to Cairo. Set in the Second World War, the story centres on the plight of the Congolese gorillas, which are being used by the Nazis for scientific research to win the war effort. Even Mata Hari makes an appearance. Chris Weare directs.
  Golden Arrow Studio, Baxter Theatre, Main Road, Rondebosch. Until November 6. Book at Computicket.