The Hilton Festival may be over but some of its highlights are still showing on Durban stages.
? Fresh from sold-out performances at the Hilton Festival comes The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), an irreverent, hilarious, mad-cap romp through the Bard’s canon. Mentally unstable men in tights fly through all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in 97 minutes.
Hexagon Theatre, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg. Thursday September 29 to Saturday October 1. Tickets are R75 (R50 students/seniors). Tel: 033 260 5537.
? Durban University of Technology’s Professor Debbie Lutge has organised a festival of original plays to celebrate Heritage Month. Titled Kids Inherit! Festival (ki!f), the week-long programme showcases the works of local educational theatre veterans Gisele Turner and Wendy Nell and features the first-year students of the drama department. Turner’s play Lucky Strike was runner-up in the prestigious Trinity College of London International Playwriting Competition 2010.
The weekend schedule features opening play Silver Stream at 6pm on Friday September 23; Green Hat at 11am on Saturday September 24; Rain on the Same Day at 2pm; and a double bill of Lucky Strike and Bride & Monster at 3pm on Sunday September 25. The school schedule sees Green Hat on Monday September 26; Silver Stream on Tuesday September 27; Lucky Strike and Bride & Monster on Wednesday September 28; and Rain on Thursday September 29. All plays in the school schedule start at 9am.
The Courtyard Theatre, DUT, September 23 to 29. Tel: 031 201 1638 / 083 326 3234. Visit: www.pubmat.co.za.
? Fresh from a recent success at the Hilton Festival, Belinda Dolphin and Jaziel Vaugh’hann skip down memory lane in Such a Night, a homage to the King. They celebrate not only the legacy of Elvis himself but also that of his contemporaries and his rock ‘n roll roots in gospel, blues, country, pop and soul. From the heart-wrenching Crying in the Chapel and Love Me Tender to the fun Jailhouse Rock and Such a Night, the show covers the entire Elvis spectrum, from maudlin balladeering to pelvis-grinding rock ‘n roll.
Rhumbelow Theatre, 22 Cunningham Road. Saturday September 24 at 8pm and Sunday September 25 at 6.30pm. Tickets R100 from Computicket. Tel: 031 205 7602 / 082 499 8636. Visit: www.rhumbelow.za.net.