The word that comes to mind when I think of David Kramer’s latest offering, Breyani is: rich. This local, music spectacular is exceptionally rich: Rich in connectedness and warmth, rich in local storytelling through music and rich in humour (so much so that throughout the performance, I wished I was more proficient in Afrikaans so that I could fully appreciate the subtle nuances of Kramer’s humour). Dressed in his characteristic red shoes and hat, David Kramer shared with the audience (as if we were family) about the origins of each song and the unique talent of each musical maestro who performed. Through the show, Kramer illustrated how to make the perfect Cape Breyani by mixing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Kramer, who sings the occasional song and acts as narrator, purposefully steps back, giving each band member the opportunity to show off their instruments and add additional spices to the increasingly tasty and mouthwatering meal.

By the end, Kramer and his band had the audience dancing in the aisles and asking for more. This is a uniquely Capetonian, heartfelt show which shouldn’t be missed.

The 10-piece band comprises some of the top names in this local music genre, including Camillo Lombard on piano and accordian and Gammie Lakay on acoustic lead guitar. Donveno Prins, who wowed audiences in The Kramer Petersen Songbook and 3 Wiser Men, plays the saxophone while former member of DNA Strings Jacques Steyn plays mandolin and bass. Klopse bands veterans Howard Links and Charlie Rhode play banjo, mandolin, and guitar, taking the moppie, vastrap, ghoemaliedjie and tiekiedraai to new heights. Musical theatre stalwart and Malay Choir crooner Loukmaan Adams sings and beats the ghoema drum. The popular Sonskyn Sisters, Ruth Hector and Elspeth Davids, sing their hearts out with a combination of cherished Cape standards and folk songs as well as material written especially for this production.

Venue:
Baxter Concert Hall

Dates and Times:
7 – 31 December 2010
Monday–Saturday at 20:15 except 24, 25 and 31 December
24 December at 18:00
No performance on 25 December
Special New Year’s Eve performance on 31 December at 21:30 followed by a party in the foyer

Prices:
Monday–Tuesday R125 and R95
Wednesday–Saturday R140 and R110
New Year’s Eve (31 December) R190 and R160

Booking via Computicket.

Fiona Gordon: Debbie Turner’s Cape Dance Company celebrated 15 years of existence in a season to top all others at the Artscape Theatre.

Dancers appear to be more comfortable than previously with the sometimes bizarre movement required of them in ‘Allesverloren…Alles Niet Verloren’ (Carlos dos Santos) which makes another appearance, although it is really a different piece when seen with a white surround on a full-sized stage. In what would be an excellent choice of ‘competition solo’, Guest Artist Sean Aaron Carmon mesmerises, with humour, as he shows off his lines to Nina Simone’s ‘I Put a Spell on You’. In ‘Waiting for the Rain’, dancers of the company prove their mettle as they take a different approach to movement, true to the style of South Africa’s master of dance theatre Alfred Hinkle, and further demonstrate their versatility with a foray into the dramatic, with the talented Michelle Reid’s quirky ‘Us Travellers’.

Another guest artist, Kayoko Amemiya, appears in a shapeless sage calf-length dress, which covers most of her body, except when she moves revealing exquisite lines, despite never leaving her chair. Under choreographic direction from Mr Huggins, she explores the ‘Essence’ of movement with superb articulation of every part of her body.

The programme makes few references to historical works, but perhaps this speaks to the extent to which current works are based on the strengths and capabilities of current dancers and trends. Despite the relatively limited repertoire smaller companies tend to have, it is a welcome change to see a well-considered repetition of previous pieces, in a very well balanced programme.

Every ‘old’ piece saw a display of what appeared to be a renewed energy and chemistry, resulting in a thrilling set of performances – most obviously so from Ipeleng Merafe and James Bradley in Esther Nasser’s staging of Redha’s ‘On the Wings of Sue’.

However, it is in their newest work that one sees the greatest tribute to the hard work and tenacity of this company, as American choreographer Christopher L. Huggins mounts his piece ‘Enemy Behind the Gates’ on them. With strong references to the aesthetic of ‘Lord of the Dance’, unison, with remarkable precision, is the mainstay of this piece with explosions of colour (from underside of the girls’ skirts) and energy against an otherwise black surround, bringing into relief the sharp movement and the strength required for such held positions. With conscious focus on the movement and cohesion of the larger group, and groups within that, the tension created is electric, and the company which holds this all together is well-deserving of their standing ovation.

With some of the ‘more seasoned’ members making a return to the stage under this banner, for this season, and some newer dancers starting to feature as they work their way through the ranks, there is a lovely mix of performance experience, although very little of it shows, as the holding of a very tight production reign is evident.

Definitely a celebratory season for this company – with one of their most well-programmed seasons, and one of their most spectacular performance pieces, to date – it is certainly a celebration of a remarkable 15 years, and bodes well for exciting things to come.

This season ended on 4 December 2010 at the Artscape Theatre, in conjunction with their Musical Theatre production, ‘Crazy Little Thing’.

Confirmed forthcoming performances include seasons at the Masque Theatre in June 2011, and Dance Factory in October 2011.

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Fiona Gordon: In a society so defined by language, it’s a rare treat to come across communications which actively transmit a message nonverbally.

But even more so, the remarkable success with which this is achieved in FTH:K’s latest production, Womb Tide.

You know that feeling when your ears are stuffed with cotton wool, and you can hear that people around you are talking, and most of what they say, but you still know there are definitely things you’re missing out on, somehow. Small details, perhaps. Some essence of nuance which may provide clarity, perhaps. It’s like being in the middle of a conversation where the other people are all speaking a language you only half understand.

Or that dreamscape-state, between when your alarm clock goes off for the first time, and when you actually wake up.

The same sort of feeling as pre-contact-lense insertion. You can see, but not well enough to feel really ‘awake’ in the world.

I find the experience – and it is indeed an experience – of shows by FTH:K to be comparable to these sets of circumstance.

Which is not to say that I cannot see, or hear, or make my own sense of what goes on in their performances. Nor that everything is not near perfect in execution. But that the experience does not necessarily require those things, in order to be successful, and that the multiple means of communication used provide the production with a level of underlying complexity that results in an incredibly poignant delivery.

This phenomenal company of deaf and hearing performer-creators uses physical theatre to explore the intertidal zones between different realities.

Both in immersion and with the perspective distance, what they’re doing speaks to the edges of one’s consciousness. Cultivating a deliberate ambiguity of medium whilst maintaining absolute clarity of message, their subject matter and methods of execution speak – in many languages and forms – to the humanity in us all. Profoundly. It seems impossible to remain unmoved, untouched…

There is always a sense that if you were to watch it a second time, it might make a whole lot more sense. But that doesn’t take away from the initial experience, which leaves a lasting and positive impression.

Exceptional attention to detail is obviously paid to every aspect of this collaborative production – from the precise synchronisation of multiple movements by highly skilled actors and puppeteers who wordlessly articulate a Lara Foot script, to appropriate and perfectly-timed soundtrack lyrics and leitmotif, within the context of a typically simple but inventive Craig Leo set.

Offsetting drama with humour, Womb Tide takes an awkward look behind the scenes, at picket fences and pregnancy, and those who know FTH:K’s work will undoubtedly be delighted with yet another superbly executed and challenging production.

Those who don’t, can and should prepare to be amazed, and moved, with this perfect example of the multiple relevances of theatre.

Created by a stellar crew of collaborators, including James Webb, Brydon Bolton, Leila Anderson and Cristina Salvoldi, Womb Tide is directed by FTH:K Artistic Director Rob Murray. The cast comprises Liezl de Kock, Emilie Starke, Daniel Buckland and Kim Kerfoot.

Womb Tide will be performed from 10 November to 4 December 2010 at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio Theatre in Cape Town at 20h15 Monday – Saturday, with tickets from R75.

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Fiona Gordon: In her latest work, playwright Amy Jephta ‘fabricates a few fetishes’ in an exploration of subject matter that takes one to just the other side of comfortable.

The blank black Intimate space is expertly transformed into a bedroom in which the action of the play takes place – that proverbial fourth wall accented in its absence through various devices, such as a see-through ‘mirror’ hanging on the ‘wall’. The bedroom curtain is opened to allow a spotlight to shine its sunny rays into the darkness that shrouds the room.

Lauren Steyn portrays emotion through expression, manifesting insecurities of her different characters where necessary. It all seems fairly normal, functional; but red lace knickers and strange indulgences tell a different tale, emphasising the macabre so matter-of-factly that it’s quite unsettling.

Directed by Tara Notcutt, and featuring Lauren Steyn (with Albert Pretorius), it’s no surprise that this play is delivered with success – drawing one in, and then – sooner than expected – leaving one feeling just the right amount of disturbed…

Damage Control plays at the Intimate Theatre on UCT’s Hiddingh Campus until Saturday 6 November 2010 at 8pm nightly. Tickets cost from R45 – to book call The Pink Couch at 072 367 6878 or e-mail at thepinkcouch@gmail.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Fiona Gordon: Isango Portobello’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Izigwili Ezidlakazelayo, is a magical cultural mix.

This is a (musical) play about the struggles of the working class in South Africa in the 1950s. It’s not the easiest thing to be a ‘whitey’ in this audience, and yet I found myself thinking (and my thinking confirmed in subsequent conversation with other patrons) that it’s a show that should be seen by everyone!

Music is most certainly a universal language, and using that as the successful base from which they can tell their stories, this multi-lingual, multi-talented company passes on the ideas of the group through songs and stories known to generations; presenting the facts, and asking its audience to consider things from a specific perspective, then draw their own conclusions.

Made up of vast cross-cultural and subtle political references, and many specific to this Mother City setting, the production is so layered it is virtually impossible to understand every reference. However, it is in this levelling of the playing field of understanding that much of the value lies. In acknowledging the traits of many worlds and creating a hybrid that speaks both to and of our new South Africa, Isango Portobello is developing a new theatre, for a new audience.

The text is based on an early twentieth century novel by Robert Tressell, adapted for this stage by Stephen Lowe, with musical direction by Pauline Malefane (who also plays Minnie) and Mandisi Dyantis, and directed by Mark Dornford-May. But for a production to really work, as this one does, it takes the input of many skilled practitioners. Design – of space and prop and costume and movement and puppets and lighting – is integrally considered, with clever subtle references, and the use of potentially extraneous stage areas all making a significant contribution to the successful execution of the whole.

A resident company has certain advantages in the creation and presentation of their work in their dedicated space. That advantage is fully employed in this staging, as trapdoors open and shut on and above the raked stage, and the ‘workers’, who are painters, do literally paint the walls of the space, through the progression of the plot.

Witty and clever, but delivered with consideration to clarity of understanding, and enjoyment, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Izigwili Ezidlakazelayo – seminal at the time of its publication, and yet no less significant in our current political climate – is a must-see, and plays Tuesdays to Saturdays at the Fugard Theatre until 20 November 2010.

Tickets start at R60, and although seating is unreserved, can be booked by calling the box office on 021 461 4554, or online at www.thefugard.com

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Since the debut performance of this dramatic piece in 2007, it has been evolving and will be presented in its latest form in a fundraising performance to be held at The Fugard Theatre this week, in support of the work going to Ethiopia and Mali in October this year.

Directed and performed by Mamela Nyamza (with Amkele Mandla Nyamza), with assistant direction by Hannah Loewenthal, what began as ‘Hatch’ has grown with each subsequent performance. As Nyamza explains, “I am not the same woman I was when I first made Hatch. As I have grown, the piece has grown and as the piece has grown, I have grown. ‘Hatch’ grew into something more, and needed a new name to say that. But even from when it became ‘Hatched’, it grows every time I perform it.”

There is no doubt Nyamza is growing in her art form. Having recently participated in ‘Crossings’ – an international cross-cultural collaborative project, hosted by the Newtown Dance Corner – her work embodies an increasingly international flavour, whilst retaining a strong sense of her roots.

The invitation then, to present ‘Hatched’ at this year’s biennale Danse l’Afrique danse – the 8th African and Indian Ocean Dance Festival – seems entirely appropriate. One of the largest dance festivals in Africa, it takes place in Bamako, Mali from 29 October to 5 November 2010, and seeks to showcase work from established choreographers around the African continent.

Nyamza explains that all too often “we seek outside the African continent for skills training and guidance with regard to the making of dance work, forgetting that we have and continue to be pioneers in many areas of this creative form”, and they are thus “looking to strengthen existing knowledge and share both similarities and differences in our struggles and successes as African dance makers, focusing on building and growing our unique movement language.”

Consolidating a successful two-year working relationship, Cape Town-based independent dance makers Nyamza and Loewenthal will be seizing this opportunity to extend their African alliances. Collaboration on a workshop with Junaid Jamal Sendi and his Ethiopian dance company Adugna, hopes to culminate in the creation of a new work in Addis Ababa with the possibility of bringing it to South Africa in 2011.

The money raised from this performance of ‘Hatched’ will go towards funding the logistics of this phase of the project. This includes things like visas and precautionary medication for the dance-makers, but will go primarily towards feeding and facilitating the participation of dancers during the course of the five-day workshop.

‘Hatched’ is on Tuesday 21 September 2010 at 8pm at The Fugard Theatre – corner Harrington and Caledon Streets, District Six, Cape Town. Tickets cost R70. Bookings on 021 461 4554. Seating is unreserved.

For more information, contact Mamela Nyamza mamela15@yahoo.com or Hannah Loewenthal hannah.loewenthal@gmail.com

Fiona Gordon

+ 27 (0) 72 298 6831

Fiona Gordon: Satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys takes to The Fugard stage as Bambi Kellerman – the estranged baby sister of much-loved tannie Evita Bezuidenhout.

In purple sparkles and pointy stilettos (and that’s just outfit number one!), she bats her lashes at the gallery and tells how a hairdresser born in Bethlehem in the (Orange) Free State came to travel the world and become friends with the likes of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Ms Kellerman is no Mimi Coertse, but she can certainly hold a tune and keep a rhythm, and supported by her ‘Bokkie Band’, sings classics such as ‘Mac the Knife’, and Sondheim’s ‘Send in the Clowns’.

With many flicks of her wrists, and lots of personality(ies), she attaches a set of false nails, and tells how she “travelled the world with her husband, trying to find a place to throw him off a cliff”. With modern and historical political references peppering the text – from stories told in the You magazine and Die Son, to rumblings about a sex workers’ union; from mentions of FW to the latest on “Zille, de Lil-le en hulle”, because after all, don’t we have the “best government money can buy?” – she takes us back to those days of the Afrikaner Bond with songs from the FAK Sangbundel – ‘Daar kom die Alibama’, ‘Jan Pierewiet’, and ‘Bobbejaan Klim die Berg’, amongst others.

As always, with culture-specific performance, there are many references which pass right over those from not within the fold, but these stories and songs of historical South Africa paint a picture of a time not so far away, and sometimes too easily forgotten. As Ms Kellerman encourages us to consider the future, and in doing so beware not to throw the baby out with that proverbial political bathwater, it is her position as a ‘German’ that allows her to take the liberty of drawing some sober parallels between the deaths of millions of Jews at the hands of a Nazi Germany, and Aids-related deaths in South Africa, as she talks frankly about being wealthy and well-connected enough to cope with Aids.

Perhaps it was the not-so-comfortable seats, but it felt too long. While the history and banter provides a precursory context for the Aids discussion, there is perhaps rather enough material here for two shows, exploring different sides of what it means to live in contemporary South Africa. Ms Kellerman gives a middle finger to propriety and encourages her audience to ‘talk to your children!’, but Pieter-Dirk Uys remains a consummate performer, who is able to draw and hold an audience, no matter how uncomfortable the subject matter.

Musical direction and arrangements: Godfrey Johnson
Bokkie Band musicians: Heather Roth on flute and sax, Rayelle Goodman on violin, Mac McKenzie on guitar and Hilton Schilder on percussion.

F.A.K Songs and Other Struggle Anthems is at The Fugard Theatre until 18 September 2010. Seating is unreserved and tickets are R90 – R120. Bookings via 021 461 4554.

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Creatives collaborate in “Shannon and the Heartstrings” presented by Fiona Gordon and Kristina Johnstone at this week’s Baxter Dance Festival.

With a strong feminine focus, the concept “grew out of a conversation with Fiona, and the images from Finuala Dowling’s poem ‘Doo Wop Girls of the Universe’ which really stuck in both our minds, and this formed the basis of inspiration for the piece”, says Johnstone. “We are privileged to have had the opportunity to work with amazing artists, and felt quite strongly that each person involved should be able to create, according to their strengths. Each part of the whole as it is presented, exists completely in collaboration with the other parts, but was developed separately – guided by common threads, but embracing the elements of chance that would result.”

Elements of the design were the first thing to be explored, Johnstone explains – “Angela brought a rail of clothes in to one of our earliest rehearsals, and we have had such fun playing ‘dress up’ in every rehearsal since! And this has informed the end product much more than we could have expected.”

Using some of the songs from Durban-based singer/songwriter Shannon Hope’s album ‘Still’, the musicians rehearsed separately initially, and then came in to the studio towards the end of the rehearsal period.

The result is an experiment in interdisciplinary integration, which will culminate in a once-off performance on the Main Programme at the Baxter Dance Festival this week. The Baxter Dance Festival aims to provide emerging and established dance companies and choreographers with an opportunity to present their work. The Main Programme will be made up of various works of different lengths presented by established professionals; and works commissioned by the Festival.

“Shannon and the Heartstrings” features vocalist Shannon Hope, and some of her songs; with musical support from nylon string guitarist Nir Hermelin; in Costumes, Set and Make-up designed by Angela Nemov. With concept and choreography by Fiona Gordon and Kristina Johnstone in collaboration with the cast, the piece features lighting designed in consultation with Craig Dobson, and is brought to life by dancers Tania de Jongh, Jamie Jansen, Melissa Jansen, Kerry-Lee Knott-Craig, Thalia Laric, Seugnet Liebenberg, Che Milani, and Katie Thorp.

“Shannon and the Heartstrings” will have one performance only – on the Main Programme at the Baxter Dance Festival, on Thursday 26 August 2010. The performance starts at 8pm. The Festival runs 25 to 29 August at the Baxter Theatre. Tickets for each night of the Main Programme are R75 (discounts apply) and are available through The Baxter Theatre or Computicket.

Images: Fiona Milligan

Fiona Gordon
072 298 6831

Fiona Gordon: An all-South African cast and creative team bring the music of ABBA to life on the Artscape stage.

Donna Sheridan’s knees weaken at the sight of men from her past, on the island she calls home, on the eve of her daughter’s wedding. Little does she know that her daughter Sophie has orchestrated the entire thing, in the hopes of finding out who her father is. Using the music of the well-known and loved songs of the 70s-sensation pop group, this feel-good rom-com about friendships spanning decades and many types of love, recreates the purple haze of the love generation, as characters gather on the island, brought together by this ‘small matter of a wedding’.

Simple set design sees waves reflected in the backdrop, surround, and lighting; and makes for a neutral canvas against which to showcase the colourful palette of ‘fabbaulous’ costumes, as ‘Donna and the Dynamos’ (Ilse Klink, Kate Normington) teeter in their platform boots reliving the glory days of their youth, in this story about ‘growing up and growing back down again’.

Much of the success of this ‘smash hit musical’ lies in the inherent singability of the music of ABBA, which has fans across generations, and many a foot tapping. Gina Shmukler is Donna Sheridan, and Carmen Pretorius is the ‘girl with golden hair’ – her daughter Sophie, both justifying their casting in the confident competence with which they managing that extremely difficult task of recreating music that many know and love. Sophie’s love, Sky (Stephen Jubber), is well-cast as a match for her; as are the long-lost love interests of her mother.

Amongst subtle commentary on the significance of dreams, that institution that is marriage, and the special bond that exists between a mother and daughter, some of the most memorable scenes are the respective ‘last nights of freedom’ of the young couple, with significant contribution to their successes due to creativity in costuming.

Movies doing what they do in terms of creating a fantasy world, and the movie version of the musical having shown in cinemas relatively recently, it’s difficult not to have expectations of the stage version which cannot possibly be met, but the immediacy of the stage plays a different, and no less significant, role in the creation of the magic.

The finale sends off with a burst of energy that has the audience firmly on its feet, and the words of ‘Mamma Mia!’ planted firmly in my head!

‘Mamma Mia!’ plays at the Artscape Opera House until 19 September 2010, and thereafter at the Teatro at Montecasino. Tickets cost from R180, and bookings can be made through the respective theatres, or Computicket.

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za

Fiona Gordon: Eight characters tell this story, of a package which must travel from Johannesburg to Cape Town…

…although the story speaks more of the characters whose hands/cars/houses it passes through, than about the package itself.

And James Cairns is the one (sometimes sitting) man on stage that does it all! With shaved head, in black pants and long-sleeved top, his neutral appearance and single, simple wooden-chair-prop allows for a blank slate on which his colourful characters and their contexts can be drawn, on this journey through the stereotypes and just-the-right-side-of-caricature characters that make up the diverse landscape of people in our country.

Across race, social strata, geography and levels of inebriation, he elicits laughs through portrayal of characters so genuine that it is almost impossible to imagine he could be anyone else – until he is… but the transitions between scenes are so distinct, and well managed, it’s easy to follow him from one to the next.

Cairns has a way of creating an expectation, and then serving something else instead – his ‘hangover communicating with him’, as he ‘sokkies his way across the Platteland’. Teasing the imagination into creating worlds around his wooden chair, I get so caught up in the drama of the scenes he creates with his words, I sometimes lose track a little of the detail of how they link together, and when the journey ends and reality descends, I’m left a little perturbed trying to make sense of it all. But the images are so real, I suspect they will leave their marks on my imagination long after this run is through.

The Sitting Man is written, directed and acted by the remarkably talented James Cairns, and plays at The Kalk Bay Theatre nightly until 21 August 2010.

James Cairns also features in ‘Dirt’ which runs 25 Aug to 11 Sep, also at the Kalk Bay Theatre. Book for the final week of Sitting Man and book for Dirt at the same time, and get both shows for R185 instead of R200. Further details at www.kbt.co.za

Fiona Gordon
fiona@artslink.co.za