Hilarious History-onics at the Intimate
28 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Beren Belknap, Gabriel Marchand, James MacGregor, The Intimate Theatre, The Pink Couch
It’s the final death rattle of the Boer War. Two soldiers are manning the last strategic outpost of Boer command, waiting for final orders to be telegraphed. One is a young Afrikaner soldier with a gruff manner and half a head. The other is a Brit double agent in a pith helmet and wedding dress.
So begins Out of Order – a madcap tale full of pithy narrative and passionate nationalism, not to mention a delicious koeksister cameo. It’s South African history like you’ve never heard it before. Mainly, of course, because it’s all completely fabricated. But still, you know. Still.
Out of Order marks the first collaboration between up-and-coming theatre production companies The Pink Couch and The Space Behind the Couch – as if it wasn’t tricky enough distinguishing between their names. The Pink Couch has an eye for comic book style vignettes (employed by director Tara Notcutt to superb effect in Mafeking Road). The Space Behind the Couch has an ear for quirky narrative (last heard in the zany banter of the undead in director Beren Belknap’s Madame Touxflouwe). Together with original animation from Jeremy Carver, this collaboration brings a wealth of young, creative talent to the local stage.
The two-hander features James MacGregor (Shakespeare’s R+J, Madame Touxflouwe) and Gabriel Marchand (Sadako, I Love You When You’re Breathing). MacGregor plays the (oh-so-)straight guy to Marchand’s chipper jokester. There’s a wonderfully balanced energy between these two – their irreverent approach and deadpan banter brings to mind moments from comedy classics like Monty Python. They are committed and clever with the script. They are, also, hellofa funny.
In what could be a case of ageing eyes and ears, I felt the sound levels needed some fine-tuning at times. I also found the animation lost some effect – and narrative clarity – by being projected in a relatively small area on an uneven background. Aside from these small details, I was sold.
Quick march to the Intimate – the show ends this week. If you do, MacGregor and Marchand will have you in stitches. The good kind.
OFFICEBlock Mixes Business and Pleasure
27 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: FTH:K, Liezl de Kock, Rob Murray, The Intimate Theatre
The school playground and the work pause area have much in common. For all our high-powered posing, working adults are really children at heart: just as silly, just as irreverent and, sometimes, just as brutal.
OfficeBLOCK – the latest offering from the integrated Deaf and hearing physical theatre group FTH:K – explores this idea. A series of snapshots set around a water cooler of ingenious (at times anthropomorphic) design, artistic director Rob Murray takes corporate cool to a whole new level.
The piece is a work-in-progress – a preview of a process that’s going to take FTH:K to Washington to collaborate with another integrated theatre team over the next year. Already, though, it shows much promise, with some inventive sequences and of course Murray’s signature style of exploring dark subject matter through an ostensibly playful physical approach.
Currently, the play takes the form of choreographed movement sequences that tell a tale of insiders and outsiders, of politics and power, of fitting in and speaking out. Featuring the talents of Christopher Beukes, Liezl de Kock, Sinethemba Mgebisa and Marlon Snyders, each vignette has a different title and distinctive feel.
For me, the “Boy’s Club” sequence – featuring the wonderful Liezl de Kock in a look at general gender politics in the office – was particularly powerful. In a scene that begins with a tease and ends with utter degradation, the message hit home like a fist to the face.
OfficeBLOCK is going to go through many changes before it arrives at its final form. As the vignettes develop and coalesce, I think it will come together into a more manageable and satisfying narrative shape. It’s always a privilege to see something develop, though, especially when the process is as enjoyable as this. Watch out for this one – it’s, quite literally, going places.
Race to See Hanekom in ‘Hol’
18 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: Artscape, Nicola Hanekom
I don’t usually review Afrikaans theatre productions – my grasp of die taal is indirectly proportional to my conversational insecurity – but I have to say something small about Nicola Hanekom’s Hol, currently playing in rep with Seashells at the Artscape Arena.
I’ve been a fan of Nicola’s since Betesda and Lot – two of her site-specific hits at various local festivals (though sadly, as yet, not in Cape Town). Despite lacking language confidence, I jump at the – sadly rare – opportunity to see Afrikaans theatre in Cape Town.
Hol is more than just an opportunity to see Afrikaans theatre, though. It is an opportunity to see complexity of script, inventive simplicity of set and utter mastery of breath and movement. It’s a chance to see Nicola Hanekom blow you away with what is one of the hardest-hitting, most powerful performances I’ve seen on stage this year.
One woman. A treadmill. Seventy minutes (or, as Hanekom personally likes to measure it, eight kilometers) of astounding performance detailing one woman’s obsession with her physical and mental limits. It’s hard to simplistically label this piece physical theatre. The work is beautifully – sometimes brutally – physical, yes, but the script is so central, the words so elegant and densely packed with layers of meaning that is that rare play that proves just as cerebral as it is visual.
My greatest regret is that my language skills weren’t up to the test of fully appreciating Hanekom’s wordsmithery. Did this prevent me from being completely blown away? Not in the slightest.
You need to see Hol. It is a profoundly powerful work and Hanekom’s performance is a tour de force.
Tale of Horror a Real Joy
10 Nov 2011 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Beren Belknap, Gabriel Marchand, Merryn Carver, The Arena Theatre
Graduating director Merryn Carver has made her mark with a signature piece of children’s theatre. Tale of Horror is an adaptation for stage of Tove Jansen’s exquisite and beloved Tales From Mooninvalley.
Belknap as the Second-to-Youngest Whomper
Tale of Horror features the professional puppet manipulation expertise of Gabriel Marchand and Beren Belknap (old hands at tweaking life into inanimate objects for companies of the likes of Handspring) as well as the fresh talent of the very charming Joanna Evans. Following the journey of the overlooked and (to him) under-appreciated second-to-youngest Whomper child in his seriously magical adventures at the bottom of the garden, the piece weaves an intricate web of make believe. Carver maintains the story’s delicate balance between gleeful romp and sophisticated narrative, leaving the audience – no matter what their age – transported to a world where we see both the hidden dangers and magic in the everyday.
A particular delight in this witty piece was the sheer visual inventiveness. Belknap and Carver have lovingly reimagined the Whomper world – the multi-functional set and range of puppet styles are a creative triumph. In magnificent cameos, a pair of mismatched Australian Vietnam war veteran sock puppets play alongside some seriously slithery stocking mud snakes. Of particular delight is the mini-human puppet of the Youngest Whomper Child, played to giggling audience approval by a crouching Marchard complete with an ingeniously detachable headless bodypuppet.
In a play with both human and puppet interaction, then, Belknap, Marchand and Evans are called on at various points to be both manipulators and actors. They rise to the occasion admirably and Carver shows excellent direction in focussing the action to either highlight or background their presence depending on the demands of the role.
Tale of Horror is well-crafted with wonderful characterisation and, despite the male narrative lead, a strong feminist message. With this piece, Carver is joining the capable ranks of theatre makers whose work proves that theatre for children does not mean intellectual pandering and that visual play and laughter are gifts that should be enjoyed by all ages. I certainly hope that Tale of Horror finds a life outside of the university environment – it is the kind of quality family theatre that we need to encourage.
