Fans of serious theatre are in for a treat as Fugard’s latest work comes to SA.
- Athol Fugard, who is to receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in June, is in South Africa to direct the world premiere of his latest play, The Bird Watchers. He has dedicated the work to two defining friendships from his early years in theatre in South Africa, namely those with Barney Simon and Yvonne Bryceland. ‘It celebrates the memorable hours we spent watching birds and talking in the shade of the umGwenya tree at my home in the Eastern Cape. Although the characters in the play are a Playwright, a Director and an Actress, the work itself is entirely fictional,” he says. The three friends in the play are the passionate playwright Garth (Sean Taylor), the gentle-mannered director Lenny, (Guy De Lancey) and the flamboyant actress Rosalyn (Dorothy Ann Gould). The Bird Watchers will be managed by the same creative team that delivered The Train Driver in 2010, with 79-year old Fugard directing, lighting design by Mannie Manim, and costume and set design by Saul Radomsky.
Until June 4 at the Fugard Theatre, Corner of Caledon and Harrington Street, Cape Town. Book at: Tel: 021 461 4554. Website: www.thefugard.com
- Don’t miss this one. There will be only three performances of Philip Miller’s moving REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape & Testimony. Over eighty voices will celebrate the human spirit in South Africa that rose above the horror and evil of the deeds that were committed in the name of Apartheid against the backdrop of projected images and video by Gerhard Marx and Maya Marx. In a work that the New York Times has called ambitious and provocative, composer Philip Miller has endeavoured to express in music the South African spirit as it manifested itself during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings that began in East London, in 1996. The songs in REwind, which mix operatic and traditional South African styles, are built around actual testimonies and weave recorded audio samples from the hearings into the music. The physical environment, designed by Gerhard Marx, creates a visual context that illuminates the full power of the cantata: through the use of ingeniously animated projections of photographs and text the testimonies literally take form, enveloping the chorus on stage. Soloists are Sibongile Khumalo, Otto Maidi, Stéfan Louw and Nozuko Teto.
From May 12 to 14 in the main theatre, Baxter Theatre Centre, Rondebosch. Book at Computicket. Tel: 021 685 7880. Website: www.baxter.co.za
- Mass Appeal (audiences may remember the Jack Lemmon film) is the story of a clash of ideology and personality between an older entrenched priest, Father Farley (Graham Hopkins), who accommodates to survive, and a scorching young seminarian, Mark Dolson (Clyde Berning), who attacks to force salvation. Each in his own way uses his relationship to the congregation to heal personal scars. Playwright Bill C. Davis draws portraits of these two: the glad-hand, loud and rambunctious pastor and the passionately radical young seminarian, and brings them together to learn about each other and, in turn, themselves.
Fr. Farley is instructed to turn his charge into a quieter and more obedient replica of himself. As natural opponents in a teacher/pupil situation, they enter a moral and psychological struggle. They lock horns. They fight and squabble, tease and enrage each other in a battle of wits and principles that is both moving and at times wildly funny. It is directed by Alan Swerdlow.
Until May 21 at the Theatre on the Bay, 1A Link Street, Camps Bay. Book at Computicket. Tel: 021 438 3301. Website: www.theatreonthebay.co.za