Tracey Saunders
LAST year was the year that the musicals came to town with a splash, quite literally with the final big touring musical Singin’ in the Rain opening complete with 12 000 litres of water. Pieter Toerien’s production auditioned and rehearsed in Cape before departing for an international tour.
While it is always great to watch a classic, the première of a new musical brings even more excitement and David Kramer managed to evoke that twice this year. In Orpheus in Africa, he recreated the almost unbelievable story of Orpheus McAdoo and his Jubilee Singers at The Fugard Theatre. The black musician and his company from Virginia in the US toured here in the 1890s, even performing for President Kruger. With a stellar cast led by Aubery Poo, Kramer crafted another musical delight to add to his repertoire.
Not totally satisfied though he reworked the script, added some scenes, deleted others and included a spirited closing number which brought the house down on its second opening.
Another local musical rich in history and musical talent was Remembering the Lux. A musical autobiography of sorts of the place that launched many Capetonian’s careers and hosted many international stars, this trip down memory lane introduced a younger generation to the style and sparkle of a bygone era.
The Little Shop of Horrors showcased the uber talented Candice van Listenborgh assisted by the comical, but not terribly musical Alan Committie. The Book of Rebelations was a hybrid of theatre and music. The post-apocalyptic tale of a country ravished by greed and corruption didn’t seem completely unfamiliar and the riveting drama was entertaining and thought-provoking.
Less successful was No1 Ladies Detective Agency. While the music composed by Josh Hawks of FreshlyGround fame was outstanding, the adaptation of the novel never caught the imagination and while The Mount Nelson may be many things, an ideal theatre venue it isn’t.
Cabaret, a sure favourite, dazzled with Charl Lingenfelder as the quintessential compère. While not on the same scale, but as passionate as any large orchestral number was Dani and the Lion, a small perfection of a cabaret in which Daneel van der Walt wove a magical and bizarre escapade which included the Gummy Bear theme.
West Side Story was the first foray of The Fugard onto an external stage and with a mega-set and star-studded cast transformed Artscape.
The Follow Spot team of Vanessa and Ashley Searle produced several music shows and kept Kalk Bay Theatre audiences entertained with Big Girls, Borderline, A Cat’s Meow, Maybe baby its you, Dragging 30 and Bon Soir downstairs and well fed upstairs.
The final musical to open this year was satirical soap opera Die van Aardes van Grootoor. Godfrey Johnson composed a musical score to Pieter Dirk Uys’s epic ‘snot en trane’ radio drama.
2015 was also the year when one woman shows took centre stage. Kelly Eve Koopman, a crazy gardener waging nocturnal attacks to maintain her garden accolades in Keep off the Grass, Jennifer Reznek’s ode to motherhood in I turned Away and she was gone, Tamarin McGinley's millennial monologue of melancholy and psychological discovery in Inherent End and Denise Newman’s heart-wrenching and poignant eulogy to Dulcie September in Cold Case.
Lee Ann van Rooi delivered tour de force performances in not one, but two solo productions. The poignant Henrietta with Love and the brutal and harrowing Woman Alone, based on the true story of the courageous and formidable Dannelene Noach. Full Stops on Your Face was enraging as it outlined the litany of abuses faced by women in this country, the casual everyday sexism and the lethal violence were delivered blow by blow by Iman Isaacs, a singular dynamo and would be avenger. In a show that was the polar opposite Klara van Wyk was loopy and lovely in You Suck (And Other Inescapable Truths).
Young independent companies continued to punch above their weight with Penny Youngleson of the Rust Co-operative directing Nat, a hard hitting and brutal exposé of the daily violence encountered by children on the Cape Flats.
In addition to Full Stops on your Face she also produced Siembamba, another incisive social commentary on the relationships forged between black domestic workers and the white children they raise.
Gabriella Pinto directed Mark Elderkin and Terry Norton in a riveting performance of Harold Pinter’s Ashes to Ashes. In an equally intimate portrayal of a relationship Paul Griffiths directed the dark comedy Sweet Phoebe, written by Australian, Michael Gow.
Directors tackled some very relevant Broadway and West End scripts which saw Joshua Harmon’s controversial Bad Jews, Joe Penhall’s psychological drama Blue /Orange and the political love story Cry Havoc written by Tom Coash staged.
Adrian Collins made his directorial debut with A Steady Rain in which Brent Palmer and Nicholas Pauling were fantastic as the jaded and cynical policemen fighting themselves, each other, the system, as well as the criminals.
Smaller theatres continue to produce interesting work. This year Alexander Upstairs staged Philip Rademeyer’s queer adaptation of The Maids. Wessel Pretorius and David Viviers as French maids added another level of meaning to the classic. Radmeyer also directed Ashes, the story of the very personal cost of a horrific homophobic hate crime.
The Alexander also staged two seasons of Anthology. A concept where four playwrights each write a short play on a theme. They are then performed together and this year's themes a change in the weather and anti-matter produced some very interesting pieces.
The large-scale Xhosa classic, Ityala La Mawele was at Artscape. The magnificent set was the backdrop for a dramatic family saga adapted by Thando Doni which enthralled audiences and is hopefully just the forerunner of other mainstream Xhosa productions.
We were fortunate to host several performers from outside of Cape Town, (yes I mean Johannesburg). The POPArt crew from Maboneng Precinct brought the darkly delicious We didn’t come to Hell for the Croissants. The second episode in Jemma Kahn’s Kamishibai exploits for adults was devoured as greedily as the first.
An edition of Storytellers Series hosted by Lebogang Mogashoa, Unfairlady, written by Gwydion Beynon, starring Rachael Neary and Hayleigh Evans and the rather queasy Aquarium directed by Frances Slabolepszy completed the season. Craig Morris, bearing a Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award from the National Arts Festival returned with the exceptional Johnny Boskak is Feeling Funny, a one man class in acting and physical theatre. Also from the physical theatre realm, the indomitable Andrew Buckland and the irrepressible Sylvaine Strike brought the award winning Tobacco and the Harmful effects thereof for our viewing delight.
Of course the theatre calendar wouldn’t be complete without a festival or two, or in this case seven. The Suidoosterfees, Woordefees, Infecting the City, Artscape Heritage Festival, Iqonga Festival and the CT Fringe Festival all offered a veritable theatre banquet. The Zabalaza Festival once again provided dozens of passionate plays which dealt with the challenges and traumas faced by local communities. Unflinchingly facing rape, domestic violence, drug abuse and xenophobia the festival is a feast of entertainment and a cathartic process for some of the cast members. Fruit, the winner of the festival was a gem of storytelling which shone its simple authentic truth with poetic brilliance.
Children’s theatre is currently receiving a great deal of attention and Magnet Theatre hosted the first theatre production for babies. They created Scoop which they toured to hospitals in the province. This innovative programme will be further developed in the year ahead and as theatre-makers start preparing for the 19th ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival for Children and Young People in Cape Town in 2017 – prepare for a feast of children’s fare.
We were spoilt with Afrikaans theatre productions which began with Jaco Bouwer’s Samsa masjien, a Kafkaesque exploration with superlative performances by Antoinette Kellerman and Gerben Kamper and an unbearably exquisite soundscape. Marthinus Basson’s macbeth slapeloos which had enchanted festival audiences revealed a Shakespeare of a different time and place and finally Saartjie Botha’s sumptuous Seemeeu made its way to the Baxter. The translation did more than just translate the text to Afrikaans from Chekhov’s Seagull. It also added an element of boere-kitsch and angst which made it one of the highlights of the year. With a cast made in heaven including Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Albert Pretorius and Cintaine Schutte the epic family drama showcased the best of local talent. Weyers and Prinsloo were joined by Wessel Pretorius and Greta Pietersen on stage for Wie is Bang vir Virginia Woolf? at The Fugard. Again Botha’s dense and sumptuous translation was given a contemporary twist and Christiaan Olwagen’s magical touch raised a thrilling classic up several notches.
Newer venues at hotels, The Rockwell Theatre and the Garden Court Theatre have also added fun new stages to the circuit. While the township areas are still woefully under-resourced, theatre-makers have taken matters in to their own hands and The Makukhanye Theatre in Khayelitsha and The Black Box Theatre in Delft hosted a number of captivating performances including a production of Antigone in the World staged by visiting actors from Columbia University.
The success of these spaces is thanks to the tireless efforts of Mandisi Sindo of Theatre 4 Therapeutic Change and Sisa A Makaula of Rainbow Arts Organisation respectively
Theatre is alive and well and kicking furiously. While audiences in other parts of the country bemoan the lack of quality productions we are spoilt for choice with more than 100 new productions in 2015. I haven’t even mentioned Cape Town Opera performances, the exquisite dance productions staged by local and international dance companies, the student and amateur productions and the numerous comedy events to be found in the city.
I am sure everyone has their own personal favourite of the year and if you haven’t had a chance to choose yours it’s not too late to catch some of the musicals which are still on stage. If you missed them this year make sure that attending the theatre is one of your resolutions for 2016. I assure you it is one you will find impossible to break.