New theatre shares the limelight with a South African great.
? Die Rebellie van Lafras Verwey by Chris Barnard, one of the important group of Afrikaans writers known as the Sestigers, was written in 1971 and immediately started picking up awards. Translated into French, English, Italian and Czech, it is still considered a virtuoso piece of work. The main character is a mild-mannered government clerk — an object of derision. But he is actually a revolutionary who tries to escape his prosaic world by dreaming of a better tomorrow.
Intimate Theatre, 37 Orange Street, Gardens, from August 9. Tel: 021 480 7129. Website: www.themechanicals.co.za.
? Dirt, written by Nick Warren and directed by Jenine Collocott, tells the story of three Johannesburg friends and a dog named Tom who must get to a funeral in Cape Town. The characters, all played by James Cairns, are soap-star actor Sam, who has an ego the size of Everest, exhausted new father Grant, who is terrified of his postnatally depressed wife, and Wayne, a man whose life has fallen through the cracks but has not realised it yet. And, of course, there is that dog.
Golden Arrow Theatre, Baxter Theatre Centre, Rondebosch, from August 15 to 27. Book at Computicket. Tel: 021 685 7880. Website: www.baxter.co.za.